And then There were Some : An FAF Murder Mystery
by KittenHachiChan
Summary: When The Five year anniversary of the Author Fighters is held, someone becomes the unlucky target of a murderer . . . Three days alone out in the country with a murderer can cause insanity, confusion, and then there's the culprit: Who killed who? Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

_Here be the murder mystery! These characters each have a separate secret as to why they're there, and their motives. Keep track yourself, and deside who the murderer is by Halloween! Here we go!_

The night air was promising for a new tale. The birds made clouds go across the sky as they rode on the wind. Thunder rolled along in the distance, lighting flashed fifteen minutes away, the air now growing heavy and sticky. The grasses were amassed like a thick sea in the countryside, a car speeding down the highway. Powerlines glinted off of the windows, tinted to prevent the sun, but now not needed two hours after the sun had set.

The car turned down a dirt road, speeding still. If cops had followed the silver-white Jaguar from the LA route it had taken, the alien driving would have been in the slammer by midnight. Trees began to be seen, each having a distinct shadow from the moon's now half visible light and the car's headlights.

Inside, the alien man driving, now near twenty, was wearing a bright white tux over white fur and sapphire eyes, obviously pressing on the gas pedal. Despite his short size and stature, he could see over the wheel just fine. On one hand was an electric veined glove and his feet were clothed in his usual boots of white, yellow, and blue.

This man was a hedgehog Fictorian named TLSoulDude.

" Man, I hope we're not late . . ." he murmured.

The girl sitting beside him in the passenger seat was gripping the door and her seat with fright. She had long black hair, wore a lighter tinted purple dress and had a sash over shoulders, now moved behind her head dead center from leaning down in her seatbelt. Her facew spoke of pure terror.

" If you keep speeding we WILL be," she said.

" No, we're not," TL said.

" I hardly bet anyone else is there now . . ." Hanabi said sitting up as TL slowed. " Besides, we've been going down this road for ten minutes now and I still don't see anything . . ."

" Hanabi?"

" What?"

" Look ahead . ."

" Huh?" She cocked her head to a 90 degree angle. " Oh my . . ."

Dead set ahead was a large mansion, Victorian aged and quadrupal-floored. The porch had small amounts of chipping white paint and pure white columns, second floor had shutter windows, third and fourth floors had regular modern day windows, and around back was a large garden and hedge maze. A circular driveway with already a few vehicles, and one large flying craft with flowers and a breaklock on the steering wheel.

TL pulled up, still in astonishment.

" So this is the place DP picked for a five year weekend reunion? Dang it!" he laughed as he parked and got out. " Some reward!"

" My reward is living through your driving . . ." Hanabi sighed deeply.

TL opened the trunk and got their bags out. " You gotta admit Hanabi, this place is beast!" he said closing the trunk.

Hanabi sighed and took her bag. " Good point, and is that a rubber chicken?"

TL laughed nervously and tucked it into his bag. " That'snothing,okaylet'sgoin!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her up to the porch as another Author arrived on a motorcycle.

The suave man wore his helmet on half loose as he skidded to a halt by the porch. He kicked down the kickstand and turned off the bike. He was wearing a deep black tux, flowers not required, and placed the keys in his pocket. He removed his helmet and revealed brown hair and deeper brown eyes. He walked up the steps of the porch as other Authors arrived.

" Hey Ranger, cool ride!" TL said.

" That reminds me," Ranger stopped, then clicked his keys for the bike, making it beep twice. " That was installed to make sure Nukid doesn't take it for another damned spin . . . three days here means three more times he can ruin my hog . . ."

TL and Hanabi backed off as Ranger entered.

" Well, that does make sense . . ." TL said. " Nukid DID once take his ship . . . . and his hog."

" Watch it!" a British inside yelled.

" OUCH!"

" Hey!"

" OFF!"

TL and Hanabi entered. " OKAY! NOBODY MOVE AND It's X and that gay blonde kid again."

" I am NOT gay!" Haru Tsunami yelled. His blonde hair was gelled back, odder than his mullet, yet his comeover was wearing a dark green suit, gemstone of the Earth around his neck, and XProdigy was on top of his back, flat on his own in his black tux. " Besides, he fell on me."

" I was trying to kill him for accusing me of being a rubbish-spewing Brit!"

" That's how I see all brits . . ."

" You and my brother both . . ." TL sighed.

A newer thought then occured.

" HOW DID YOU END UP HERE?" TL waved his arms and legs rapidly.

" Oh, it's not just me!" Haru said. " The rest of the gang's around somewhere! Mirasuka and the girls are in the ba-"

" OH no, NOT what I meant! I meant HOW did YOU get HERE!" TL yelled again.

" I - I invited them," Kitten whimpered from the door to the main room, which from where Haru and X were now standing was extravagantly beautiful with purple carpets, a few couches, a large chair, coffee table, and a fireplace. Pictures were on the walls.

" Kitten?" X asked.

" Not getting involved . . ." Ranger said and went through the same doorway Kitten was as another few Authors were heard in the kitchen.

" I invited them, seemed fair," she said stepping forward in a light blue dress, short sleeved, and her hair down for a change . . . but the silver-white mesh swept past her feet. " I figured I could . . ."

" Kitty . . ." TL said stunned.

" Yes?"

" Rebraid that monster and we have a deal . . . no WONDER you have that braided!" TL freaked and ran into the other room, past Kitty.

" TL!" Hanabi yelped taking her bag with her.

TL got in as a fuming MistressofDawn passed him in a moonlight colored dress, brown hair curled and scars covered by coverup, Jiro following her in a wonderous tux and his hair was gelled back. Wolzar barked after her.

" Wonder what that was all about . . ."

" Wasn't me then!" Phoenix said sitting nearby and next to DJ and his girlfriend Kurumu.

DJ was still wearing his cloak and had his scythe, but that was normal for the Reaper Apprentice. His dark brown hair was brushed in his tux. Kurumu had her light blue hair straight and was wearing a white dress, easy of details near her left shoulder. Phoenix was still wearing her gauntlet as she looked over at the hedgehog. She had on a red dress, silk like, and her brown hair was up in a bun.

" You clean up nice, spunky!" TL laughed.

" OH VERY funny," Phoenix said ticked.

A male voice nearby laughed as well. D-Dude was wearing a flower around his wrist despite teh fact he couldn't wear a tux with his dragonsaur body. His feathers on his arms ruffled.

" Hey bro! You got here safe!" TL said.

" Not only him," Kurumu giggled.

A girl with shoulder-length hair, green eyes like the sea, and wearing a blue dress came in. " Hey TL! Hanabi! It's good that you two made it!"

Southern accented syren Meredith.

" Meredith, hey!" TL laughed.

" Yep," D-Dude sighed as she sat beside him.

" You miss me?" she asked cutely.

" Oh nah . . . ." D-Dude laughed.

The two nuzzled close.

" Aww . . . and kinda eww," Phoenix said.

" She's a siren!" Haru laughed butting in from the door.

" And I can vouch for that!" Scorpion Ryukoi laughed coming in as well. The dragon boy, how in his emo looking human form, was wearing a dark purple tuxedo, red rose on his shoulder, and his Darkness gemstone around his neck.

" YEAH!" the two high fived.

" ONe I can deal with, TWO is where I draw the line!" TL yelled and ran after them. " GET BACK HERE YOU IMMATURE BRATS!"

" He's the one who's not mature . . ." the blonde rubber Nukid laughed as he walked down the stairs. " Coming from me, that's- " he said, falling down the stairs asleep. He was definitely more of himself today. More so than normal.

" Okay, Nukid asleep, TL chasing two idiots who look gay, and Kitten confused in the doorway with Big D gawking over some siren . . . all's right," Air sighed coming downstairs. " Just hope this stuff doesn't happen ALL weekend."

" Hey Air," Phoenix said walking in. " Where were you?"

Air froze as his hair stood up on end. He looked over at Phoenix and nearly jumped out of his skin. " Oh, me? I, um . . . I was just . . . uh . . . I was just upstairs, that's all . . ."

" Really?" DJ asked as he walked in.

" LOOK OUT DUDES!" two males yelled from the top of the stairs. He was King, taller than Air, wearing a blue suit, and his light blue hair was flapping behind him along with his gemstone over his peachy-tanned skin. The other boy was Dairo Miguziwa, the African American water sorcerer with his water gemstone around his neck wearing a dark blue tux and holding onto something familiar . . .

" RUNAWAY!"

" GET BACK HERE! YOU TWO ARE DEAD MEAT!" Ranger yelled as he held a gun. " Come back here with my other gun!"

" NO way man!" King said.

" Just toss it back! We are screwed!" Dairo yelled. " I hate preflight dahas!"

" You haven't done your dare yet!"

" DIE HALF BEASTS OF BURDEN!" Ranger yelled shooting at the two, who dodged crying now.

" OH this is bad . . . Ranger chill!" TL said.

" Just toss the gun back to him and you two will live!" Air yelled as he stepped down, Phoenix's laughter now echoing the whole large foyer. DJ's groan was intimately echoing as well.

" They have my gun . . .NOBODY swipes my hog, nobody calls me a Power Ranger, and nobody, not even NUKID, swipes my motorcycle," Ranger growled.

King tossed the gun back over. " Happy now?"

Ranger automatically aimed.

" Sorry sir . . ." King said then murmured something about him being a badass hardass.

Ranger nodded and placed it back. That was when Nukid woke up.

" What happened?"

" Just us about to be killed," King and Dairo said.

" Moving along everyone . . . " Dawn said coming in.

The large group turned to face her.

" In the dining hall, everyone else's already there."

_There's a majority of the cast as of now . . . let the fun begin!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Okay, SLIGHT delay in the whole process of getting the story with my labtop breaking fown, but it is awesomer now and now I can write chapter two! Now, here's the good part._

The others all began to gather in the large dining hall. The immense hall was decorated with many silthouetted pictures, thanks to the lightning, a fabulously shaded carpet like the rest of the house, cream walls, a large grandfather clock in the center main wall, and two doors that led to the kitchen and living room, respectively. The table as long and had several chairs and places for many with fantastic china. The silverware was placed perfectly, and there was nary an older cobweb in sight of the wine casing which held seven kinds of bourbon.

The ones who had cleaned had outdone themselves.

There were already several other Authors talking to each other in the hall as the group entered. King whistled.

" Fantastic," he said. " This place must have been post Victorian era, about late 1800's paint judging by the paint texture . . . no visible darkening of the cream colors or dust . . ."

" Who are you? An art critic?" Phoenix asked him annoyed.

" Yes, yes I am," King growled walking past, ruffling his collar. " You uncultured swine . . .'

" WHAT was that?"

" Guys, no fighting!" Kitten said.

" This tux is really itchy . . ." Lunatic121 groaned tugging at the stiffening collar. His suit was already well dusted and sewn, flame retardent and had a red floer pinned to the front, and was a LARGER change from his usual attire of a Chuck Norris wannabe, or at the most, a rodeo rider. However, his red and indigo mop was still untamable. " Can I take this off now?"

" No, Loony," D-Dude said walking past. " it's a dinner party, not an insane-off."

" Aw maaaan!" Lunatic freaked. He then looked out of the room. " What about Rook?"

" Even I'M restraining myself to kill or humiliate the Metagang this go-around," Wildrook said walking in, white hair brushed back with and clean sweep and wearing a tan tux best suited to him. His Keyblade was in his right hand. " Besides, I made a temporary truce."

" That IS still viable to be broken at any time, Wildrook," King said. " Notorized and signed legally!"

" I notorized dudes!" Kiva laughed.

" God Almighty . . ." he groaned.

" Does anyone know where a mock Bankai sword of Ichigo's is?" Janera Moeteiru asked coming in wearing a red dress and her Fire gemstone around her neck. Hier red hair was curling over this time and looked around. " I brought it here and it vanished."

" Don't you need a permit?" Lunatic asked her.

" Says the redhead insan-o with the chakrams," Janera said. " Least I don't go insane."

" It's in my name, and secondly, YOU'RE the one who brought it!" Lunatic laughed.

" Eh- ah, ya got me!" she laughed.

The other three Metagang girls walked in. Mirasuka was dressed in purple and had her Psychic gemstone on her wrist, red hair up in a bun, Tanuki was dressed in gray and black, goth lotita styled dress, her Wind gemstone around her neck with her black hair down, and Ookami came in with a yellow dress on, her pink hair in twin buns, and her Sky gemstone around her waist like a cute belt.

" We're here for the dinner!" Ookami said.

" We were just getting our make-up on," Mirasuka said.

Tanuki looked over and nodded in a panic, as though she was still right and wrong. The others took no immediate or noticeable notice.

" Girls and the bathroom . . ." TL groaned. " I'll never understand it . . ."

Dawn and Jiro sat down next to each other as the others wandered in including Trisha the kitsune, wearing a pure red gown and sat near Rook, DW in a usual black tux but instead three roses on one shoulder sat next to King, two chairs were set at the end for the guests of honor, and the last person to come in was soping wet and wearing a purple tux to match his purple hair.

" Hey, Ross!" Nukid laughed.

" hey yourself, I was caught in that storm outside," the Deoxys Pokemorph said sitting a few seats down from Ranger.

He was already shooting daggers as a gentle tap on his shoulder made him jump. " YIKES!"

" Um, Ranger? Think you can just try to be nice?" Kitten asked. " Just let this thing go with Ross . . ."

His gaze was dark and unwavering with her. she shivered and opened her mouth, but stopped and closed it again. Ranger sighed and blinked twice at her.

" Why is the Angel of Kindness right here on my left shoulder?"

" Because she swapped places with me, apparently," Ross said.

" I can take the annoying angel over the jackass copyrighting fringer," Ranger grumbled.

Kitten tapped him again and said," You can be nice . . . I know that somwhere deep down in that crusty shell of a person is still a nice and kindhearted guy who hates to use violence as a means to an end!"

A few people were snickering at her naivity.

" Kid . . . " Ranger started and went slowly as possible. " are you on crack?"

" No."

" Abandon that thought . . ." he said.

" Why do you have to be so mean?" Kitten whimpered.

" Why are you deciding to be my conscience of all the hours now?" Ranger sighed.

" Man, this is gonna be a wild weekend," DJ said. " Hope Ranger doesn't do her in."

" Fat chance," Janera said.

Rook looked around and said," this place screams that something bad's gonna happen."

" Do NOT envoke Murphy!" a Haitian American teen yelled in a blue tux with Kite's symbol on the shoulder, an invoker to his side.

" Dibrave, Marcus, chill." he said back.

" I know, but when YOU envoke it, I'M the one who gets hurt BADLY."

There was a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder and everyone was silent. Each person sat down and remained quiet as DarkPaladinmon walked in wearing a deep purple tux, and his armour was removed, revealing his icy blue hair. He came in as everyone watched. Hikari, wearing a long white gown and her hair down, revealing her lovely features, was on his arm. Someone whistled, and DP stopped to glare at a certain blonde.

" Welcome, everyone!" DP said as HIkari stood beside him. The group looked up smiling, or scowling in a few cases. " Welcome to everyone here: Author Fighters of new and old-"

Each Author looked up.

" - holders of magical powers-"

The Metagang and a few others looked up as well.

" - friends of the Authors -"

Dj's friends looked up as well.

" - and cordially invited guests - "

A few dates looked up.

" Welcome everyone, as I have said beforehand, to the Author's Fifth Year Anniversary. Five years ago," DP said," a few loyal friends and I started this hero group, and from there we've branched to include Jedi, magical creatures both full and half, three insane aliens, gun weilders and Bankai slashers, Pokemorphs and aura users, Keyblade wielders, far intelligent people, the brave, the bold, and the strong. Together we have banded and have stayed banded for five years. For that unity, I thank you."

Everyone clapped, and Haru kept clapping long after everyone stopped. Mirasuka slapped him upside the head, saying," Haru . . . just stop. You're embarrassing me . . ."

" Heh . . .sorry."

" As I was saying . . ." DP said.

There was another strike of lightning and thunder as the rain kept up.

" However, the good that came in those five years didn't come without the bad. Drake's Darksides are a good cause of our pain and misfortune, along with whatever older schemes he concocts. But, whether it has been summoning the Zodiacs, brainwashing our members and friends, stealing the Imagination River, eliminating us through time and space, gaining allies through harder means, or whatever he's done, we always manage to bounce back and kick his Darkside hide. We have taken down his foes and more foes than we have ever seen."

There was more applause and a few people whistled.

" To this tea, we have members who are taken for and were voted for being keys of our team," DP said. " These members are true friends of us and are the reason we have not disbanded and sent astray by the winds."

" Or worse - taken over by Drake," Nukid said.

There were several small laughs across the table.

" Nice Nukes," TL laughed.

Haru yawned, but Scorpion, sitting beside him, hit him again.

" Back to what I said, there are several members who deserve recognition: XProdigy for his comedical moments in times of fear and despair . . . "

X gave a thumb's up behind his Hollow mask and his tux as everyone laughed a bit.

" - D-Dude for his intelligence and research, which has helped us many times . . ."

D-Dude bowed as everyone clapped.

" - The combined strength of TL, Ranger, and Roscoso, which always help during battles and major wars against evil,"

The three stood and bowed, Ranger twirling a gun, Hanabi beside TL smiling at the ham, and Ross saluting.

" - Dawn for her combined strength of willpower and determination,"

Dawn stood blushing as Jiro egged her on.

" - Kitten for her kindness and honesty,"

Kitten turned a deep red as she shook standing.

" Cute, and at the same time, grow a backbone . . ." Phoenix said.

" I can't help it!" she shivered, " there go the legs . . . oh . . ."

She passed out.

" Anyone have a bucket of water?" Ranger asked emotionlessly.

" I really need a mic . . . and our last two are Rook for showing us insanity is still a part of us all . . ."

Rook was wearing fuzzy browed glasses and had a spinning bowtie, and the gang in turn laughed.

" - And lastly, I supposeI deserve credit for still having us under semi-control . . ." Dp said.

" Of course you do, Sempai," Hikari giggled.

" Yeah, Bozz Whiz!" TL laughed.

" FIVE years, TL . . . FIVE YEARS!" DP said.

" Why not D-Whiz?" Kitten asked laughing.

" . . . Kitty don't push it," he said. " The MIM, Most Important Member, will be decided by vote this weekend and shall recieve a grand prize for being nominated and voted for. By the end of this anniversdary weekend, I'm sure we'll be closer together than before. That also spread to - X? What are you doing?"

" Trying to stop that blonde gay from looking at me like that," X growled at Haru.

" I'm just trying to figure out what's behind the mask!" he yelled standing. " Dang it! EVERYONE is ALWAYS trying to KILL me or SOMETHING!"

" I have your something RIGHT HERE GAYBOY!" X yelled standing up shaking a gun.

" Haru, now is NOT the time for you to blow up," Kitten sighed. " Let's all just clam down. Let us realize peace, calmness, and -yeek!"

There was a gun cocked to her head.

" If I wanted to hear preaching, I'd listen to a Johnny Cash record . . . NOT your voice go on and on . . ." Ranger said.

" Help me . . ." Kitten whispered.

Haru growled adn murmured something in Demon, aggitating X even more as he began to pull Haru over to him and had a gun cocked, but Haru freed himself and stood back. The two were arguing as the others began to stand and argue with them as well.

Flash of lightning.

Thunder.

BANG!

Silence.

Rain.

Everyone stopped and turned to where Haru and X stood. X lowered his gun as Haru backed up a few feet. Kitten, shivering near the cocked pistol that was now lowered, sighed and felt no pain. She looked over and gasped as the others joined her in gasping or in utter silence.

Blood was pouring from a small hole in X's chest.

" T-T-Tia . . . "

He fell and hit the ground. Blood was beginning to run from his body as Tia, nearby, was appearing emotionless, but felt a tear fall.

Dairo approached and felt his pulse.

" He's . . . He's dead . . . "

Flash of lightning and thunder.

_To be continued . . . _


	3. Chapter 3

_Here's the dramatical part three! Devising the murderer in all this mess is like trying to find out how to build a sewing machine from sratch . . . ignore that . . . Well, I only own my OC's and Kitten and the others belong to everyone else. Read, review, and ZERO flaming! Thanks! XD_

Thunder boomed as the rain continued. It danced outside as it splashed onto the muddy ground and pitter-patted against the window's glass panes. As it flashed again, the group had now transferred into the living room and parlor addition. TL was one of the few standing, pacing the floor in a main pattern. D-Dude was on the couch with a terrified Meredith. DJ was sighing to himself every few seconds. Hikari was clinging onto DP, who was looking both puzzled and surpised and fearing all at once.

Other words, panicked.

A depressed Nukid and DW were sitting aside from a bloodthirsty Advent, scythe in hand, and a grimmer looking Kiva. Banjomaru was sitting across from his cousin. Phoenix was tapping her foot and glaring at Haru, who was sweating buckets near Mirasuka, frantic already. Janera was asleep, crazy as she was, along with Hanabi. Ranger cocked his gun for the seventh time and was aiming at some imaginary target. Conicidentally, Haru was the one who gulped at the gun. Dawn was growling as she clentched her fist as she also patted an upset Tia on her back.

Lunatic, who was watching his brother pace like a newer father, was sitting next to a shaking to death Kitten and Marcus, who was glaring at Lunatic. King and Scorpion had their swords to their sides just in case things got . . . out of hand later. Dairo was near Tanuki, and Tanuki was eyeing Advent and his scythe, thinking about already behedding him and then herself. Rook was glaring at Haru along with Wandrex, Keyblades out. Ookami was shaking near Air. As if on que, Air was already standing up then.

Lightning flashed.

" That's it . . . X is dead . . ."

" Yep," TL said.

" I can't take it! Haru shot the guy when he was down!" Phoenix yelled. She aimed her Keyblade at Haru and charged a spell.

" HOLY CRAP!" Haru yelled as Mirasuka got her powers channeled into her hands for a Psy-Blast.

" This is now bad," Lunatic said and pulled out a chakram.

" Guys calm down!" Kitten urged and pleaded, near crying.

Ranger then aimed his gun at Haru. " Allow me . . ."

" HEY!" Haru yelled jumping up. " We may have tussled, but I'm NOT the guy who killed him!"

" Dude's right," Dairo said. " The shot entahed his back, ya'll."

" His back?" TL asked.

" Yeah his back! What? Ya'll nevah studied anatomy befoh?" Dairo asked annoyed. " And Rangah, put the gun dahn."

" Someone mind shutting up Country boy?" Ranger asked annoyed and now aiming a second gun.

" I still say Haru's the guy who killed him," Phoenix growled. " Not unless I see the wound on X for myself."

" Likewise," DP said standing, HIkari still clinging. " Innocent before proven guilty."

D-Dude and Dairo left into the other room where X's now lifeless body was positioned as such. TL and Phoenix also tagged along to be backup checkers. The others all stayed in the other room and sat down and listened to the antagonizing sounds of the clock ticking and the music of the rain and thunder.

XXXXX

The three trudged into the dining room and saw the body of X laying peacefully. D-Dude coughed trying to avoud crying, Tl bit his lip, Phoenix shuddered and ran back out of the dining hall door, and Dairo sighed before gulping and said in a cracking voice," We bettah lift him up . . ."

D-Dude and TL placed their hands and turned over X's body carefully as to not disruipt rigor.

" Oh God I'm gonna be sick . . ." TL gagged.

Dairo helped then finish turning him over, but as a sudden occurence, his mask fell off and-

" Huh . . . so THAT'S what his real face looks like . . ." D-Dude said.

" Yeah, kinda cool and freaky since, well, you know, he's dead . . ." TL said.

Dairo nodded and gasped.

" CHeck out his back!"

There was a smoking hole on his back where blood was gushing from previously but was already leaving a puddle from minor droplets. His cloak was soaked in blood. it was in the dead center of his back.

" So he WAS shot in the back," Dairo said halfway excited. " Point blank!"

" Thank you Captain Obvious . . ." TL rolled his eyes.

" You know what this means?" D-Dude asked as he analyzed the bullet wound without touching the back of his now deceased friend.

" That someone killed X . . . and that someone is out there right now . . ." TL said grimly.

Lightning and thunder cracked at that instant, shadowing the room.

" THAT, and my best buddeh is CLEAR!" Dairo laughed and skipped merrily. TL and D-Dude were sweating at this.

_' Loony, you may need to be replaced as most insane here . . .' _TL groaned.

" .22 Caliber," D-Dude said finishing.

" Huh?" the other two asked.

" The gun. It's a .22 Caliber, and the trajectory of the bullet wound would mean it was near the door when it was fired," D-Dude said, his tail lining up with his hand to the area he was standing.

" But . . . But everyone was already sittin' down! I should know because I was in heah as well! And Haru was standing, alright enough, but in front of the poor guy," Dairo said. " How can you fire a gun when you -"

D-Dude walked forward, as if in a trance, and notioned for the African American-Japanese boy and his hedgehog brother to walk over. He sharpened his claws quickly and tapped the wall in three measured feet. One was hollow, the third was hollow, but the SECOND was sounding like a stud was cut into it. The three were wide-eyed at the wall, where a picture of a man on horseback was stuck, a small hole in the cloth of the canvas. TL removed the painting and shivered as the literal smoking gun was inside the wall on a small plank of wood, brand new, and there was a string set to a timer and a small alarm clock.

" What the heck?" TL asked. " iut was set?"

" Check out the clock," D-Dude said.

8:00.

The time they had dinner.

" Someone set this up to shoot directly at where X was standing or sitting," Dairo said.

D-Dude nodded. " No one touch the gun. It could still have other bullets."

TL looked at the gun hole, then at the chair. He clicked his tongue and walked to where X had previously sat down while Dairo and D.D. were talking about the gun. There was a minor argument in the other room, one comment being " YOU KILLED HIM RANGER!" from a female mouth. TL tapped the chair, scooted it oiut, and cocked his head to the gun. It was aimed right at his head. He narrowed his gaze and shook his head.

" Hey bro?" T:L asked getting up.

" What?" D-Dude asked turning around.

" How many people switched places at the table at dinner?" he asked.

" I know King swapped places with Janera, but that's a fopa," Diaro said.

" Not sure . . ." D-Dude said.

" I don't think X was the target . . ." TL said. " Because IF he was the target, the gun wouldn't have been a .22. It would have taken a LOT more force to bring him down from his mask and his skull. The guy would have seen it coming for sure!"

" That's what Dairo and I were talking about. Why place the gun to aium there, unless X wasn't the intended shot for the shooter . . . " D-Dude said.

" Who swapped with X?" Dairo asked.

" Not sure, but we can't tell the others this until we realize who was sitting there . . ." TL said, the crossed his arms and added," Induces less panic."

" LESS?" Dairo yelled.

" YES, less, what are you, nuts?" TL laughed.

" I think I've gone and lost my ability to heah . . ." Dairo gasped.

" Let's just move along into the other room . . ." D-Dude said.

XXXXX

TL and D-Dude, along with Dairo to back them up, were now explaining the situation to the Authors as a light rain was still pouring down outside. They all listened tentatively.

" Alright, this was supposed to be a vacationing time for us all, a great anniversary? But NOW it's not . . . " TL said, " Because someone killed X."

" You sure about that?" Tanuki said shaking.

" Yep," D-Dude said," There was a bullet wound in his back from a .22 Caliber that we're not sure of who it belonged to. The bullet got lodged in his heart, killing him in seconds. The way the killing was executed was highly educated, using a timer and a clock to set it off JUST as the person who was being targeted was sitting."

" So, now what?" Haru asked.

Phoenix sighed and said," Doubt Haru's already the killer, so you think others are gonna die?"

" No duh," Kitten whispered. " Am I the only one who's read Agatha Christie?"

DW stood and said," It HAD to be Ranger! "

" I am NOT the only one who has a grudge and a gun, DW!" Ranger yelled.

Soon the room was a wave of arguments, strangles, and a few power blasts, D-Dude growled and yelled out " **FOCUS EVERYONE!"**

The yell echoed as everyone stopped and turned to D-Dude.

" D-Dude's right, Everyone calm down." DP said standing, a serious expression on his face. " Now we'll investigate this and NO ONE leaves this house until the murderer is caught. Leave no stone unturned for this. We'll organize groups for sleeping tonight so no olne is lost or ends up dead . . . This is now personal."

Everyone was silent as a thunder boomed in the distance.

" No one will leave until the find who killed X."

_To be continued!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Here's the daring part four with another twist! I only own my OC's, so no one complain . . . Please read, review, and no flames. Thanks! XD_

Everyone was silent as a thunder boomed in the distance.

" No one will leave until we find who killed X."

The others were all beginning to look at each other loosley then. Many looks were dark and deadly, others were sloppily accusing, and one was small and genuinely peaacegiving. Thunder boomed as the rain was lessened again. There was a slight ticking of the clock as everything was silent. The ticking was a menacing heartbeat, the metronome of the evil that was being shadowed in the den.

The silence was broken.

" It was Ranger!" King yelled.

" WHAT?"

" You have guns dude! You could have planted one there to shoot X!" King yelled.

" Don't go and pin all this on ME, you overgrown gator-skinned purse . . ." Ranger said pointing a longrifle. " I overheard you complaining about X and what he wrote on your online gallery!"

The others gasped. Goddes grumbled under her breath about how he didn't do it.

" OKay, so X judged my pre-sketches too harshly, albiet they were given PRIZES WORLDWIDE, so I also had a greater SHADING AVERAGE!" King yelled with his light blasts forming in both hands. " And I have armour skin, you hack!"

" Look, boys, let's chill," Phoenix said.

" Or YOU could have done it Phoenix!" King yelled. " I'VE READ SOME THINGS, AND I've pieced together that you HAVE A SLIGHT ATTRACTION! You could have killed him so no one else would have him!"

There was a group gasp.

" He's WAY OLDER MAN!" Phoenix yelled, getting her Keyblade up to his head. " At least I know one other person!"

" Who then?" King yelled.

" NUKID!" she yelled facing the narc.

" Hey I did NOT kill my friend Phoenix . . ." Nukid said as he glared at her and walked over. " In fact, I got here only THREE HOURS AGO! I never would have had a chance to put the gun there! I would have used a crossbow!"

" Weird," D-Dude said.

" Oh don't go and play innocent, D-Dude! I know of your incideous crime done tonight!" Nukid yelled and walked over to the dragonsaur. " I know you placed the gun there, you're one of the smartest Authors, you have strategic abilities, and FURTHERMORE-!" NUkid huffed up with a finger up as he tried to say something else, but was cut off by D-Dude.

" - I got here at the same time you did, Nukid . . ." D-Dude was already glaring. " Don't use accusation without Representation . . ."

Nukid blushed and laughed sheepishly before returning to his seat, muttering, " S-Sorry, I remember now . . ."

D-Dude sighed and said," Let's look at what we know. We know that people changed seats, and that X was seating right where the gun was aimed. Now who had more motive to kill X than anyone else among the Authors?"

" There WAS Dawn and Phoenix," Kitten said almost quietly, curling a small piece of her long hair. " R-Remember Valentine's Day last year? They still hold grudges."

The group gasped, minus Dawn and Phoenix, who were glaring at Kitten. Kitten gulpged and turned a lighter shade of red.

" Now hold on," Dawn said pointing a finger. " I'm not the one who killed him, and I may have gotten here this morning with Jiro and Ross, but I never knew where everyone would sit! I DO NOT wanna kill my friends. Especially X or Jiro."

" Yeah, and I got my revenge at the SPring Break party with Mira," Phoenix said.

" Thank you!"

" How do we know YOU'RE not behind this! You've been acting freaky all night!" Phoenix said.

" I-I don't know what you're talking about . . ." Kitten shivered more.

" OH come on . . . the hair? Your manner of speech? Even the shaking!"

" She COIULD be scared?" King asked annoyed.

" Let it go bro . . . let it go . . ." Scorpion said to the taller brother.

" No no no, you're hiding something . . . " Phoenix said walking over to the quivering Kitten. " Cough it up!"

Kitten turned pale and started to stutter," I-I-I-I . . . " she then swayed and fainted, hitting the floor with a THUD. The other groaned as Meredith ran to get the smelling salts. DiBrave pulled her onto the couch gently and looking a bit worried himself. Phoenix stepped back, guilt painted on her face. Ookami coughed and broke the silence.

" Well, obvious she didn't do anything . . . " she said.

DP sighed and said," Let's NOT play the blame game . . . save it for when we find more evidence. Did you and TL find anything else, D-Dude? Dairo?"

" Just that the gun was aimed right and timed right," TL said. " Nothing else, Boss Whiz."

" SERIOUSLY!" DP yelled, then pressed his fingers aginst his temple as TL was laughing. He sighed as another boom of thunder clapped outside. " Well, since we've reached a stand still, we can all argue again in the morning. Let's all head to bed."

" NO!" Janera yelled, getting everyone's attention.

" What?" Lunatic asked.

" Have ANY of you seen a horror film?" Janera asked, her arms flailing with mini firesparks. " If you split up, then the monster or murderer or the bad guy hunts you down one by one in your sleep or anything!"

Mora nodded and laughed, saying," She's got a point."

DP nodded," Hate to say, but I agree."

Janera steamed them, literally.

" Alright then, someone can stand guard at the openings of the hallways and keep an eye out," DP said. " So, who's up for the first shift?"

There were no hands as the thunder clap sounded again as the rain grew harder. DP looked over and spotted someone.

" Wandrex if you would?" he smirked.

Wandrex sighed and nodded. " Fine, but if one of the Metagang starts to bug me in the middle of the night, then I'm stepping out."

" Deal," DP said, remembering the insanity from Spring Break. " Stand guard and report to me in the morning. As for the rest of us, go to the rooms in groups. One person enters a room with the group at each time and the person at the end of the hall must enter quickly. Everyone lock your doors and don't let them open for anyone, not even if someone's asking for help. It could be a ploy. As for the genders, girls on the left side, guys on the right."

" Of the fence?" Rook asked.

Everyone laughed as Advent huffed. " I was gonna say that . . ."

" Girls go first, boys next," DP said.

Another clap of thunder and lightning sounded and showed as the rain poured down faster and faster. The girls took the hint and ran upstairs screaming, except for Hikari and Kitten, who Marcus was carrying. Luantic raised a brow.

" So what's the new guy doing holding Kitty?"

" No idea dude," Haru said, " But he's cool!"

" Not to me . . ." Scorpion said.

A book was promptly thrown at his head. " WHO THREW THAT?"

Hikari hugged Dp and kissed him, saying," Sempai . . . "

" It'll be okay, HIkari-san. Just head to bed. Anything happens, you can come to my door and knock twice," DP kissed her as she nodded and walked off and upstairs. Once he noticed Hikari was gone with the girls, he notioned for the guys to go.

" Dibs on the biggest room!" King laughed.

" OH no you are NOT!" Scorpion said.

The two chased each other down the hallway. Air sighed and said to DP," So, you headed to sleep?"

" I don't think I can . . ." he sighed, finally a crack in his voice.

" Me neither . . ." Air sighed.

Soon everyone was in their own room asleep. But deep withing the night, something sinister was about to conspire . . .

XXXXX

The night was still dark as a dark raven's coat. The rain was still falling as footsteps were heard in the dining hall. The steps kept up as the dining hall was not disturbed. A mysterious figure, statured to his shadow, was walking in, but tripped over the leg of a chair. Massasing their sore ankle, the yanked the cloth off of X's dead body and began to lift his body to their back. They left through the other door, and into the kitchen.

They opened the door and exited into the wet night, leaving behind almost no trace . . .

_To be continued!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Been a while, I know, but at least I can't say I HAVE NOT done anything to help keep this going . . .heh. Well, here's the next part to the mystery. Also, next chapter, there's an offering bet . . . Whoever can guess what happened to the next victim, will get a secret hint to the killer. I only own my own chracters. Please read, review, and enjoy!_

The next morning was damp, fogged, and dark as the night beforehand. Thunder was booming in the distance, small raindroplets forming outside. The night before had left quite a number on the ground, leaving muddy puddles, flooded patches, and the few cars and flying vehicles used covered and buried in mud and muck. There was a rooster crowing a mile away, signaling it was already way past dawn, since the thunder was drowning the sounds of the flightless bird.

Steps echoed on the staircase as someone walked down, holding onto the railing. It was easy to see, but faded the colors to a muted prospect. Lighter colors, like yellow and red, were now dark browns and oranges. The person then tripped over a spot, falling down a few steps and let loose a " Jesus Christ!" in anger. He steadied himself and got down the rest of the way, cracking his neck. He sat down and rubbed his ankle quickly before standing back up and walking into the dining hall, and-

" OH MY FUCKING GOD!"

The lights came on.

Thunder boomed.

It was Ranger.

XXXXX

A few of the others, still in pajamas, were standing in the dining hall as D-Dude examined the scene where the body of X once laid. The team members were either shaking, halfway awake, or in Lunatic's case, asleep in the armchairs in the den, drooling. Others who hadn't heard the message were asleep upstairs or avoiding the attention. DP was holding onto HIkari, who was shaking out of fear. Advent was in a chair as Tanuki was fanning him from freaking about his older brother. TL was nearby as D-Dude scraped up some blood and borrowed a camera from Kiva to take a picture of something odd in the long since-been dried blood: there was a crust uprooted, creating a footprint partial. He smirked and stood back upright.

" Looks like someone really did take his body," he said.

" Yeah, or he became a zombie and walked outside," Ranger said sarcastically, still hiding a hint of fear. " Yes you living large lizard we KNOW someone took his damn body out of here."

" But why? A-And when?" Mirasuka freaked, her flanel purple pajamas flapping with her arms and her frizzed hair.

" You're the Psychic one," Haru told her in a midyawn.

" Yeah, but you of all people know I can't activate the powers I have in a FREAKED STATE!" she yelled.

" She's right," D-Dude said, " I don't think even my sight seeing powers can work with this kind of stress . . . plus, I can't smell anything."

" Huh?" TL asked.

" I can't smell the scent of whoever moved his body . . . it's like . . ." Big Double D sniffed twice. " it's like . . . they don't even have one, or they removed it. Whoever moved it was smart: they removed their scent, covered the blood, but the footprint's only the heel . . . "

" We can try to match it up," King said. " Check everyone's feet."

" What if it was a girl? There would be more than one shoe," Banjomaru said rolling his eyes.

Every girl glared at the bowlcut nerd wearing an X-Files shirt. He gulped and said," I'll just . . . be . . . hittin' that ole' Dusty Trail . . ." He walked back outside of the room, walking backwards the whole time, then was gone.

" He does have a point," TL said. " Everyone could have more than one pair of shoes on their hands."

" Right," DP said. " Even I have two pairs of boots, but I was asleep last night. I didn't come down here."

" Neither did I," King said," and I can TELL that's not my foot."

" Yeah, I've SEEN your feet," D-Dude said. " It's a small heel, so the male or female has feet from size nine to size six."

" That's practically half and a quarter of everyone!" Haru yelled, then yawned saying," Sorry, rain kept me awake . . ."

On cue, rain drizzled down as Haru groaned. " See? Rains hate me . . ."

" Obviously . . ." DP said mockingly and rolled his eyes. Hikari laughed to his side.

" Well, I'll analyze the heelprint and see if I can find an exact size, then we'll start matching," D-Dude said. " Whoever did this was pretty strong to have taken his body outside . . . and in the rain no less . . . hmm the rain . . ."

D-Dude felt a small bell ring in his head, as if a certain spelling mistake on a prize-winning essay would determine the error. He sniffed the air and walked into the kitchen, clean as a whistle. He smirked and looked around the door, the doormat which read "Backways Door of God", then he checked the doorknob, the window on the white door and as such, everything. Haru, King, TL, and DP walked in after. TL was the first one to notice the bizarreness of his brother as he tried to look under the rug.

" D, what in God's name are you doing?" he asked annoyed.

D-Dude looked back both upset and excited. An odd combination for a dragonsaur.

" It's been raining for two days, so why's there no mud?"

" Huh?" Haru asked.

" Aspies," King groaned.

" He means . . . there's no mud around here . . ." DP noticed the clean floors.

TL gasped. He scanned the area, free of debrees and dust and clumps of wet, slopping and coppertoned mud, and nodded.

" Dang it. There's no mud on the floor, no mud on the carpet, no fingerprints on the doorknob or window . . . someone was quick."

" That, or they couldn't touch the ground," King said.

Dp taped the floor twice and whistled. " No signs of cleaning products, no signs of smears or anything . . . "

" Cre-epy," haru shivered, then yawned. " Yo, I'm gonna go back to catch some Z's, so once you find the killer, tell me. I wanna film the arresting scene and send it to the guys who make Cops."

The others glared at him.

" wHAT?" Haru asked. " You look me in the eye and tell me you didn't wanna do the same to another Author you hate when they got busted for being drunk or something like that! Best. Blackmail. Material. Ever."

" You're as dumb as Tucker man," King said.

" You're as gay as Ricky Martin," Haru shot back.

" And HE'S their leader?" D-Dude asked looking at TL, who had the same blank expression.

DP pierced his temple as he saw the two glaring at each other. He sighed and said," NOW I have seen everything."

A loud and shrilly scream echoed from the upstairs to the downstairs area. At the same time, the five boys froze. The others in the living room and other rooms of the house froze as another clap of thunder cascaded over the house and rattled it to the core. The boys ran into the foyer as the others came in. Lunatic was yawning and shaking from both morning tiredness and a slight tinge of fear. Standing at the foot of the steps of the foyer was Dawn, hands bloodied and Jiro holding onto her. Hikari walked to her and patted her shoulder twice.

" Dawn what happened?"

" Hi-Hi-blo-bloo-o-o-o . . ."

" Dawn? Calm down," HIkari said soothingly.

" What is going on?" Roscoso asked walking forward.

Dawn kept stuttering the "bloo-ha-ha-hall . . ." syllables and finally grasped into Jiro's arms, crying. The blood on her hands smeared onto her face and his shirt. He looked as distressed as her, but also showed a small glint of happiness in his eyes. Rain was still pouring, despite a small crack in the clouds outside showing a blue sky behind the clouds ready to appear. The others in the foyer, pajama cladded and fearstruck as the boys from that British Academy about the time of WWII about the Beastie, all had one thing on their minds.

What what caused Dawn to crack?

" Jiro, explain what happened," DP said.

" Okay," Jiro said as he also began to shake," Dawn and I found something . . . in the closet upstairs . . . boys' hallway . . . come on . . ."

Jiro carefully led the crying Dawn up the stairs as the group walked up as well. Mirasuka was grabbing the tired Haru for dear life, Lunatic and Tl keeping close behind their older brother, King acting as the shepard for the other remaining team members that were awake at the moment. Ranger had a gun ready, loading more bullets into it. Ross got a Life Aura set. DP pulled out his staff as Hikari grasped a small item inside her pocket of her nightgown. Phoenix, who was also halfway awake, was slugging it upstairs, but a fully awake Mora was pulling her up as the main portion of the group walked around the corner then.

" Huh?" she asked with a yawn.

" I don't sleep." Mora said emotionlessly, pulling her along. " I can just say- OH MY GOD IT'S-!"

The group was now in the hallway, eyes all wide as dinner plates. DP and HIkari were at the front with DW and Lunatic. D-Dude poked his head, and soon wished he hadn't. Rook was on the other end with Wandrex and Trisha, Kiva starting to tear up. Ookami was crying silently with Tanuki. Scorpion looked hard, but on the inside was bawling as much as Dawn was. Lilly sighed as she looked on. They all drew their eyes to a large blood pool leading from an open closet to the cream colored floors, which were now a bloody red. They saw a large black sword, deathly and insensitive. There was no sense of comedy now . . . like, no one funny joke could be said without a punchline being interrupted . . .

It was stabbed inside of Nukid.

His face looked like he was going to say something sincere, or insulting, and the blood coming from his mouth was dried and crusted. His body was sprawled on the floor from someone previously having opened it. Dawn was now bawling on Jiro's shoulder. Hikari cried on DP's shoulder. MIrasuka looked away as Lunatic bit his lower lip. D-Dude bowed his head in respect, and Ranger put his gun back.

" Damn it . . . the bastard got Nukid . . ." he said low and angrily. " That son of a bitch got Nukid . . ."

Trisha bent down and closed Nukid's now souless eyes. She then shut his chin, which make a sickening click from rigor-mortis. Kiva gagged and ran off yelling "BATHROOM!"

" Dawn opened the closet and Nukid's body fell out," Jiro said, looking down. " I wanted him to suffer one way or another, but this was not what I had in mind . . . oh God forgive mne for wanting him to suffer . . . "

" Oh man, Nukid . . ." DP wiped an eye. " May God have mercy on his poor soul . . ."

" Amen," D-Dude, TL, and Lunatic said at once, their crosses out.

Scorpion pricked up his pointed ears.

" Scorpion, what's up?" King wiped an eye.

Scorpion moved his head from left to right. " Anyone . . .does . . . does anyone hear that? Sounds like . . .like when . . .hang on, trying to catch where it's coming from . . ."

He moved past Rook, and then weasled through the crowd, accidentally stepping on HIkari's small foot, Haru's shin, which gave Rook a reason to laugh, and then walked sideways past Dawn and Jiro. He walked down the hallway and was soon stopping by a few doors, and finally, he hit a door. He heard small noises behind it as King followed mouthing angrish. He stopped Scorpion from opening the door and said, " Dude, you do NOT do that. Remember what happened in Hong Kong?"

" First, yes, and secondly, someone'e behind that door, and I wanna see who it is!" Scorpion said.

" Dang it man . . ." King groaned.

Scorpion turned the doorknob as other people were now walking over.

" Yo, what's going on he-WHODAFLIBERFLABERHOOSEN?" Scorpion yelled.

" Scorp, we agreed on not speaking German unless necessar-OH MY JESUS KITTEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" King yelled.

There were two people making out on the bedpost at that moment.

Marcus and Kitten.

Silence.

Thunder clap.

" Well, who saw THIS coming?" Haru asked looking in.

_To be continued!_


	6. Chapter 6

_OKay, here's part six! I can't believe this is actually going awesomely! Alrighty then, I only own the Metagang and Kitten, so please read, review and no flames! Thanks!_

The rain was now down to a bare drizzle, and after raining all night and day, the gloomy mood was now adequite. The Authors, the friends of Dj, and the Metagang were mourning Nukid's loss. The funny, narcoleptic, unknowingly perverted, and insane man they had come to adore was now fallen by a black sword . . . quite the sad ending, really. Most of the group was poised and now out of their pajamas by noon in the living room, some too depressed to even eat anything. The few with stomachs were only drinking a few things, although one person threw up their coffee.

The reason the group was surrounding the living room was because of a certain Rider who was with a certain innocent angel who were both in DEEP need of explanation. Kitten was red faced and was sniffling from crying, her fragile mind still comprehending everything. DiBrave, aka Marcus Flores, was shaking in his seat, looking on nervously at the others in the large group. A vast majority of them were the Metagang, even King and Scorpion looking like they were gonna murder him themselves. DP, D-Dude, Rook, Wandrex, and DJ looked on at Marcus with eyes of older brothers.

King, Kiva, and Scorpion also had red eyes at him.

" So, Dibrave, care to explain exactly WHAT was going on?" DP growled.

" Yeah, start talking, Kamen Rider . . ." D-Dude growled as his tail whipped dangerously. " And I won't hurt you . . . much . . ."

Marcus gulped and tugged on his shirt collar. " W-Well . . . I-I-I-I-I . . ."

Kitten was shaking more now, more tears falling as Hikari was putting a hand on her shoulder. Phoenix sat next to her as well, trying to calm her down. Their words were just buzzing insults to her as they tried to move her away from her 'attempter'.

" If you did a single damn thing to her, I SWEAR to God I am gonna-" Rook started to crack his knuckles.

Marcus gasped and said," Okay, look, whatever you all saw, it was NOT what you think it was!"

" You mean you WEREN'T forcing yourself on Kitty like that!" Scorpion yelled, his sword being pulled out.

" He was not!" Kitten whimpered loudly. " He was not! He was not! He was not! He was not!"

" Oh man I thought her normal voice was enough to drive me to shoot her . . . this takes the cake . . ." Ranger yawned and plugged his ears, smiling as he no longer heard any noise.

Kitten kept whimpering it as tears fell more and more as she started to cry. Hikari and Phoenix tried to calm her down, but her wings flapped out and batted them off like flies on the hide of a horse on a hot day. TL ducked as the wing nearly cut off his head. Kitten got up quickly and ran back upstairs crying as she kept saying it over and over, nearly choking on her own tears as she kept running. Mirasuka, Hikari, Phoenix, Tanuki, and Ookami ran after her yelling " Kitty come back!"

There was a silence as a faint door slammed and light rain pelted the side of the house.

Ross then turned his head to Marcus, who was looking on the brink himself.

" You never did anything, did you?" he asked solemnly, obviously still upset about Nukid and now this glorious event.

" No . . . No, no I-I could never, never, NEVER . . . never hurt Kitty-chan . . . " he said, biting his lip. He scratched the back of his long haired head and sighed. " I could never do that to her! Nor any other girl! I hate that! I could never do that to anyone, either gender, ESPECIALLY Kitty-chan! I love her too much to do that!"

" Sheesh dude, we heard your argument the first time," Lunatic cleaned out an ear with his pinkie, then slapped his ears. " Man, she's your problem now dude . . ."

A book was then thrown at Lunatic's head.

" Advent, dude!"

" Wasn't me!"

Marcus looked at him angrily. The fury of his eyes was now obvious: passion and true love. It was a look a fwe of the Authors and the Metagang recognized all too well. DP sighed and sat down, a few others still standing.

" You love her, don't you?" DP asked smirking, making Marcus turn bright red.

" Is it that obvious . . .?" he asked sheepishly, the others in the room laughing.

" Yes, yes it it," Haru commented, then laughed and high fived him, saying," Way to follow the advice dude!"

" Oh great . . . just what I needed . . ." Rook groaned.

" Hey hey hey, we have another issue here, why was he sucking face with her in the morning anyways?" Goddess asked annoyed. " I think he's lying!"

" NEVER!" Marcus yelled standing up.

" Marcus, chill dude," Kiva said. " Just image your happy place . . . image those clear waves . . . the calm serene . . . don't think of how annoying your cousin actually is despite him having a hot girlfriend who's also a kick-butt ninja girl from the Batman series . . . don't think that your younger sister is more innocent and dangerous than you previously thought . . . don't think of your evil father and how he might come back again to hau- whadda ya mean I'm ranting again?"

King had whispered in his ear that he was ranting, and he turned bright red that the others in the room were now staring at him awkwardly. He laughed nervously and froze then.

" That is a good point though, Goddess," DP said. " Marcus, why was Kitten in your room when I said to separate the genders to begin with?"

TL got out a Pepsi and snapped it open, much to the annoyance of the others. He only took a small sip before placing it on a coaster. The other remaining people in the living room, mainly men and teen boys with Goddess leaving from the anxiety of the situation, and sensing it was a guy thing, were in there listening. He then strolled his eyes to D-Dude, who nodded to him and then to Dairo. The three began to slip out of the room unnoticed.

" Meh, I'm getting one later . . . I need my caffiene," Rook groaned and pressured his forehead.

The rain began to give way again, as if the ground had not recieved enough punishment.

" Well, you see, it goes like this . . ." Marcus started.

XXX~

The rain was pounding against the side of the house. There were occassional flashes of light and thunder sounds, making it sound and look like a rock concert outside for Metro Station or KISS, minus the freaky groupies. The others along the hall were already asleep at the midnight hour, Marcus included as he was dreaming of the beaches, the calm shores, and running along them, hand in hand with a-

_Sssspllllllltttsch!_

Marcus groaned as he turned and sat up, half asleep and annoyed. He looked around his room and sighed happily.

_' I was already asleep when a weird sound woke me up . . . I didn't know what had happened, or what it was, but I just began to ignore it and I went back to my sleep, or some of it. Before I knew it . . .' _

He yawned and fell back asleep, but reopened his eyes to a large set of sparkling blue ones. He jumped out and yelped in fear, bumping himself off of the bed.

_' . . . an angel was beside my bed . . .'_

Kitten was holding a pillow in her arms cutely, wearing a light blue nightgown. Her face looked as though she'd seen a ghost, and from the previous night, it was obvious she was having issues sleeping. Sadly, she wasn't the ONLY one along that hall with some shuffling heard outside of the room, and from the window panes.

" Marcus-sama?" she whispered.

" K-K-Kitty-chan!"

Kitten nodded as she looked over. " You alright?"

" Considering I saw you in here, no, no not really, but I'm getting better," Marcus shivered as he got back on the bed. " So, why are you in here?"

Kitten looked outside as a large blast of thunder shook the house, the raftors and shingles rippling the noise. Kitten shivered and ran to Marcus, hugging him. The Kamen Rider turned bright red as she did the unexpected, and took advantage to wrap his arms around her.

" I-I'm not a big fan of loud sounds . . . " she whispered. " Can I stay in here with you?"

Marcus' eyes widened at each word. He opened his mouth to say something.

_" TALK YOU!"_

" Wha-wha-what about DP's orders? What about being separated?" he asked as he felt his arms shake, although it was more Kitten.

" I was beginning to get scared from the noises, so I ran down the hall, but since Hikari was asleep and the other girls were already goen as well, I came down this hall to find DP . . . but then I realized it might be embarrassing, so- well- we were gonna plan on telling them . . ." Kitten blushed deeply.

_" YOU BETTER SAY SOMETHING ON YOUR OWN THIS TIME! I AM GONE!" _

His brain left as he fell back, now asleep from a large faint. Kitten poked his cheek, blinked slowly.

_' The shock had caused me to faint, not that I didn't do it gracefully . . . '_

Kitten kept poking him as the storm let loose a large boom of thunder, which she hid under the same covers as Marcus for. She whimpered and kept up her shivering until she too fell asleep . . . the rain kept on falling like a kettle drum . . . just as a mysterious someone was dragging a body outside of the house towards the drier areas of mud, which were now becoming slush . . .

XXX~

" That's the whole story . . ." Marcus shrugged.

The group groaned after the story. DP pressured his nerve after hearing it. He turned to Marcus as Haru fell back, asleep. Rook laughed then, Wandrex groaning. Ranger had fallen asleep in his chair, arms folded. King and Scorpion sighed at once.

" So, you just took up eight minutes explaining HOW you two got together, not WHy you two were kissing in the early morning . . ." DP said.

Marcus had a dreamy look on his washed-over face, which he quickly snapped out of. " Huh? OH! Oh, we ended up kissing after we woke up. She went to get dressed, she looked so cute I just had to-!"

King covered his mouth. " Keep the details of your love life to yourself, dude. Bad enough I dealt with my bro and his girl and what happened at band ca-"

Thunder and lightning boomed and flashed as the front door was blown open. The group in the front screamed, jumped, and in a certain white haired's case, pulled out a rider transformer, hands shaking. The darkness from outside and barely audible light of the day were making it hard to see. The figure was at the age of sixteen, he was wearing a coat drizzled with the black of the day, and to the side of his body was a gun . . .

XXX

The hallways upstairs were bare and now empty, eerily like the hotel from The Shining. A sigh was heard from a door, Tanuki standing from the side of it, dressed in her normal cargo pants, gray shirt, and black shoes, hair down low ovewr her eyes. The weight of the responsibility she now had was weighing down her head, which was leaned over her feet. Ookami exited the room and sighed, leaning against the wall as well. She too was wearing her normal attire of a light yellow shirt, a yellow skort, and she had her hair up in pigtails.

She leaned to Tanuki.

" Kitten's crying her eyes out right now . . . Hikari and Phoenix are trying hard, but she just keeps on with those tears . . . poor kid . . ." she sighed, then smiled. " Although kudos to her getting a cute man!"

" Do you hear yourself right now?" Tanuki asked, thunder booming in the distance.

Ookami laughed nervously and sighed, leaning against the wall again. All was silent . . .

" So, last night, at dinner," she said in a more serious tone.

Tanuki stiffened like a gargoyle.

" Why were you freaking out? You were shaking the whole time before hand and nothing bad had happened yet . . ." Ookami said, her gemstone glowing.

A mini gray cloud appeared over Tanuki's head. There was a tiny boom from it before it started to rain lightly over her head. Tanuki turned solemnly and already ticked off to the cheerleader beside her and gave her a glare of a mad coyote. Ookami laughed lightly and removed the cloud, turning it white and then making it condence.

" So what if I wanna make some merriment . . . so sue me," she crossed her arms in frustration. " I just wanna hear a laugh now and then . . ."

Tanuki sighed.

" You remember the fact that I'm a reaper, right?" Tanuki asked, showing her necklace off, which had a mini of her scythe; it was gray, had a red ringlet at the bottom, and was curved to fit her body weight and size and shape. The glints sent Ookami's gaze away from it. " And you remember my dad is-"

" Yeah, there's a reason you're addicted to apples," Ookami said. " What of it?"

" Well . . ." Tanuki sighed and was shaking again. " I got . . . a . . . list, of people I have to reap this week, but there was a name on it . . . . it was . . . . was . . . . "

" Nukid?" Ookami asked worried.

" N-Not exactly HIS name, but yeah, a few, specific . . . names, were on there . . ." Tanuki explained. " I started to get a bit freaked because someone was gonna kill them. I didn't want to tell anyone because, hey, you know what happened when we went to band camp . . . THAT ended well . . ."

" Yeah, never going again . . ." she said.

The rain kept pouring.

" So, you know who's doing this?"

Tanuki turned to Ookami with big eyes, green and deep, the rain reflecting into them. She looked about ready to pull them from her own head, bags and dark circles under her eyes, as they too turned black and clouded over slowly with the passing darkness and clouds from the incoming severe thunderstorm.

" No."

_The newer player in the game is Tal Ordo everyone! Next time we see someone vanish, another vicitim claimed, and the love that dare not to speak it's name . . . or more like a- (static)__WE ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES . . . out._


	7. Chapter 7

_Here's the dramatical part: lucky number seven! Twists and turns abound, the killer strikes again, and someone will NOT be seeing the light of day again! (evil laughter) Sorry, saw too much Soul Eater . . . anyways, please read, review, and no flames, I only own Kitten and the Metagang, thank you!_

Thunder and lightning boomed and flashed as the front door was blown open. The group in the front screamed, jumped, and in a certain white haired's case, pulled out a rider transformer, hands shaking. The darkness from outside and barely audible light of the day were making it hard to see. The figure was at the age of sixteen, he was wearing a coat drizzled with the black of the day, and to the side of his body was a gun . . . he scoffed and walked inside, removing the coat. The others were on edge still.

" No way . . . " Loony said and then shivered, fingers near his mouth as he bit his nails," IT'S THE CRYPT KEEPER!"

The others screamed as King sneezed. Ranger was still asleep, ears plugged.

" It's Tal Ordo Loony, just chill," Phoenix sighed rolling her eyes as she walked back downstairs.

The others sighed and calmed down. Rook pulled back his Keyblade as Phoenix walked down the rest of the steps and led Tal to the living room.

" Least someone can tell the difference," Tal said, revealing his black clothes. " Sorry I'm late everyone, but the rain caused my team vehicle to experience trouble. That, and someone put cheese under the seat . . ."

Scorpion laughed at it as King rolled his eyes.

" Ah jeez, what is this? This isn't Wisconsin . . ."

" Thanks King, and why are the Metagang - " Tal pointed towards them now shocked.

" I'll explain in a moment . . . "

XXX

The thunder was booming in the distance as the group was now placed in the living room at noon, all either still fearing for their lives or in Tal's case, wondering why he wasn't still back safely on the road in the storm where he would have died NOT from the hands of a psycho. He sighed and lessened his grip on the gun in his holster. Marcus, now off the hook, was shaking still as the room began to get eerily colder than before. DP was sitting as he finished explaining to Tal the details from beforehand.

" And how many people are dead now?" Tal asked.

" That reminds me, let's go over what we know," TL said as D-Dude took out a notepad. " Nice job on notes, bro!"

" Thanks," D gave a thumb's up. " The first victim was XProdigy, who was killed by a gunshot during dinner last night. The gun, a .22 caliber, was used and hidden in the wall, set to go off when the person beforehand was sitting in X's place. From further examination, we all realized and discussed that whoever killed X had also wanted something he had, or was going to get."

" The MVP from DP?" Tal asked.

" Oh man, I wasn't picking X," DP sighed sadly. " Why does this stuff always happen to us?"

" Join the club, dude," a few of the Metaguys said in the room.

" Hold it, person beforehand?" Goddess asked. " Wasn't X the target?"

" Well, now, I-uh . . ." D-Dude shivered.

TL then covered Goddess' mouth as she steamed, red faced with anger. " So, uh, Big Double D, wanna keep going?"

" Be glad to . . . the second victim was Nukid, who was stabbed sometime between midnight and early this morning with a black sword, left sitting up in a closet, found by Dawn and Jiro. We later determined this was the same person who had killed X."

" Hold the phone," Loony said standing up. " I REMEMBER SOMETHING!'

" What?" the others asked.

" Spit it out, Loony," Wandrex said standing.

" Last night, remember?"

_(Flashback)_

_ " Does anyone know where a mock Bankai sword of Ichigo's is?" Janera Moeteiru asked coming in wearing a red dress and her Fire gemstone around her neck. Her red hair was curling over this time and looked around. " I brought it here and it vanished."_

_ " Don't you need a permit?" Lunatic asked her._

_ " Says the redhead insan-o with the chakrams," Janera said. " Least I don't go insane."_

_ (End of Flashback)_

" Janera was looking for a black bankai sword she brought! That must be what Nukid was killed with! THUS, the killer IS INDEED AND WITHOUT A DOUBT-!" Lunatic looked more and more enraged as he spoke.

" The killer can't be Janera dude," King sighed." She's been with us preparing in Omnitown, that and it took us a few hours to get here, even with crappy directions via someone in the Authors and no mentioning there, so we pretty much are not the killers, Lunatic."

Lunatic shrank back and coughed.

" Well, Lunatic was right when he said the bankai sword was used, but it was stole last night, so someone would have been in her room beforehand," D-Dude said.

" WHAT?" Janera yelled from the top of the stairs, She ran in yelling," There's NO WAY someone stole my bankai! WHOEVER DID'S GONNA DIE!"

" You two would be perfect for each other," Rook said to Lunatic.

" I have a boyfriend you jerkweed," Janera crossed her arms and Lunatic gagged and fell down grabbing his throat, Advent laughing his butt off." Man I miss Drac . . ."

" How's Kitty?" D-Dude asked her.

" Slowly getting there," janera said. " Hikari's calming her down and she stopped crying, but she's iced half of her room, so she'll be bunking with me."

DP nodded and squeezed his temple. " As long as the ice melts and gets shoveled outside in the mud, I'm cool with it."

Janera laughed nervously and ran back upstairs. King sighed and sat back down as D-Dude kept reading on his notes, the others still thinking about the motives and appearances of the crime. The rain had momentarily stopped as the mud outside was beginning to slowly edge towards drying. Ranger yawned and woke up, unplugging his ears.

" So what'd I miss?" he asked.

" Nothing much, just going over what we know," TL said to him.

" Oh . . ."

" So, what would a person have to gain from killing both X and Nukes?" Goddess asked.

" Maybe it's position in the team?" Advent asked shrugging.

" No, then they would have gone after me . . ." DP said. " Or they could be after power, like X's guns and Nukid's streching ability."

" NO thank you," Banjomaru said.

DW then blinked and looked around. " Hey, wasn't there a gay looking blonde guy in here beforehand? You know, when DP was still talking to Tal about what happened here?"

" Haru?" Rook asked.

" He said something about going to take a leak," King said. " He can drink unlike everyone right now . . ."

" But . . . that was over two hours ago!" Marcus jumped up flailing his arms.

Fear began to fall as thunder rumbled in the distance.

" Okay, no one goes to the bathroom for two hours," DP jumped up, staff in hand. " He's either missing or-"

" The killer got to him!" Lunatic yelled.

" Loony, chill man," King said.

Kiva laughed and, coming back from the kitchen with a soda, said," You guys are sure jumpy right now . . . ya know that? Geez, Haru probably got lost, the idiot . . . Come on, dude can't even make it out of the school without losing the way on both the track field and the roof at the same time. he can't even find his way out of a-"

" Where were you?" The others yelled.

" Getting a soda, gotta keep up strength ya know," he said opening the soda. " Geez . . ."

" Kiva, don't freak anyone else out like that . . . this is NOT a horror movie in real life you know," King said. " As your leader, I have full authority to make you stop before something ELSE bad happens, and I do not wanna be the one to tell Blossom her boyfriend was killed in a freak accident in a storm in a plantation house in the middle of NOWHERE!"

The others were silent as Dairo said," Yeah, it WAS hard to find this place . . . ya shoulda given us bettah instructions, Rookie boy."

Rook rolled his eyes annoyed." Kitten wrote them up in Japanese, her English is like dancing weasels, yadda yadda yadda . . . Kiva do not try anything."

" Try what?" he asked taking a sip of the soda. " it's not like I'm gonna drop de-"

The others saw Kiva freeze very suddenly.

Banjomaru had wide eyes," Kiva? Are you oka-"

A look of terror on his face as he grabbed his throat, then fell to the floor, coughing as he clawed at his throat more and more. He started to tick violently smashing his head on the floor. Banjoamru freaked out and ran to hold him still along with King and Scorpion, Dairo running into the foyer and back into the kitchen to get something. DP, DW, TL, Loony, Ross, Air who was walking in from another area looking a bit dazed, Ranger, Rook, Wandrex and D-Dude all stood back and wide eyed, Advent hiding behind the couch. Kiva was shaking violently as Dairo came back and said something in Japanese to them, freaking them out even more.

" Hang on, Kiva, calm down!" Banjomaru cried. " Just hang on . . ."

Kiva was slowing down, and for the next fifteen minutes, they were holding him down, blood pouring from his mouth and head busting open. Banjomaru was crying his eyes out as Dairo was running back and forth, still speaking in Japanese. It was tortureous, terror filled and ten times the tenacious typical fear of anything else. Rain began to sprinkle as they finally gave him ground.

He was motionless.

Silence.

Rain pouring.

Thunder boomed.

" What . . . . what just . . . " TL was shakingly walking forward.

Banjomaru was silently crying as he said," Kiva . . . he's an epileptic . . ."

" He had a grand mal seizure . . . " Dairo said, looked serious. " I don't know how it was triggahed . . . He suffered wounds from the floor . . . he's dead."

XXX

Hikari and Tia were leading Kitten down the hallway slowly, Janera, Ookami, Phoenix, Dawn and Jiro still together, and Phoenix running on ahead when they heard noises. There was a scream and bumps along with Japanese yelling. With the others gone, the three stopped in the hallway. Hikari's hair was up in a pony-tail and Kitten's eyes were red from crying. She sniffled and looked towards the direction of the sounds as Tia also looked up.

" We're sorry for accusing Marcus-san, Kitten-chan, but we're only looking out for you," she said.

" I know, Hikari, and I accept that feeling, and aside form everything, I still love him and I know he'd never hurt me and what are the noises all about?" Kitten hiccuped, changing the subject.

" Good, now that is wrapped up and we should figure out what's going on . . ." she said.

" Do you think they found out?" Tia asked darkly. " If they did. . . "

" They can't have yet . . . . " kitten sniffled. " I used a charm. There's no way they will find it yet. Not until the rain stops, but that's not for a while now."

Hikari nodded. " It was still a good spell I used to keep the mud off of the floors."

The other two nodded and walked along.

" Let's go see what the fuss was about."

XXX

The basement was darkened and cold, damp, and very drafty as there was a creaky sound. The creaky sound was still echoing despite the thunder as it went towards the stairs. Near the stairs was a large box with wired going up and down: the fuse box.

It opened as a light shined, eyeing a specific wire marked LIVING ROOM LIGHT.

It snipped.

XXX

The group was joined by the girls as they came back, Kiva's body lying where it was. They walked back downstairs in a fast pace as the others were now silent and still. The boys moved to expose Kiva's body, all on accident, as they noticed.

" Hey guys, what's with all the commo- HOLY CRAP KIVA'S DEAD!" Janera screamed.

The other girls creamed as well as Dawn and Jiro gasped.

Hikari, Kitten and Tia walked downstairs and gasped.

" K-k-k-k-k-Kiva?" Kitten shivered, then swayed and fainted, Hikari and Tia catching her.

Marcus ran to her, running around Kiva's body and the girls. The Metagirls ran over and looked over Kiva's body, the others hanging their heads.

" That was scary . . . what ELSE can go wrong?" Lunatic yelled.

The Metagang gasped at once. " NEVER SAY THAT! SOMETHING ELSE CAN GO WRO-"

The light went out then in a flash as several people screamed.

" Yeah, we gotta stop that . . ." Janera said lightly after screamming.

_Stay tuned and see if you can stop the culpirt!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Man I love typing this fic! XD This is the first part of the penultimate chapters, meaning the next few are gonna be like the Clue of things, so please try to figure out what that means! I only own Kitten and the Metagang, so please read, review and no flames, thank you!_

The light went out then in a flash as several people screamed.

" Yeah, we gotta stop that . . ." Janera said lightly after screamming.

" Obviously," Rook said in the dark.

There were sudden thumping sounds and a male scream as the girls screamed, " SOMEONE HIT THE LIGHTS!"

" Hang on! I'll do this!" Ookami shivered as she spoke, then took a deep breath, causing her electric energy to backfire into her body and making her luminescent like a light bulb. She blinked at the others as they looked at her oddly. " What are you all looking at? Sky Sorceress, duh! I can do this! Just as much as Janera can turn into a giant fire ball."

" I'd do that for light, but I may catch the place on fire."

" Thanks for that then," DP said shaking.

Lunatic was on his back on the floor, a knife stuck in the wooden floorboards near his nuts. He slunk back and stood up against a wall, still shaking over the sudden impending loss of his manhood. Rook nearby had also dodged a dagger, this one to the side of his head, barely flinching as he walked away, wide eyed.

" Ho-ly crap . . . " the two insane members said.

" DUDE!" King yelled.

" Holy-" Tia started to say, a bit impressed.

" Indeed, it seems whoever's after us now is targeting more than oe of us at the same time!" Hikari shivered. " Oh sempai!"

She ran for DP as thunder and lightning struck outside again, the time now way past noon. Everyone else grouped together as Banjomaru draped a blanket over Kiva's lifeless body and dragged him gently with King's help over towards the back of the couch. The lights suddenly came back on, fear and terror on almost everyone's faces. Kitten cowered by Marcus, who was also visibly shaking. Phoenix and Goddess were shaking near Ranger, who cocked a pistol. Advent and Lunatic were back to back. Scorpion growled.

" THAT's it," Scorpion growled. " I'm gonna find this killer and beat the tar outta him with these!" he unlashed his claws.

" Bro," King said walking over, then shook his head.

Scorpion looked down and lashed them back into his hand.

" Dude, I was this close to losing my nuts . . ." Lunatic shivered in agony. " This close . . ."

" Calm down bro," TL said concerned. " Yo Boss Whiz! what now?"

" Do NOT call me that TL . . ." DP threatened, then sighed and said," I guess we have no choice now, but to split u-"

" Don't finish that sentence!" Kitten and Janera yelled. " NO one should do that in a murder mystery!"

" Sheesh," Wandrex rubbed an ear.

" Agreed," Advent groaned. " Bad enough from little miss chubs."

Kitten glared and said said with reddened eyes," Hey Advent, do you want a fat lip?"

" Let's all calm down," Hikari said," and you two, chill it down. Senpai, we have to find Haru and figure out what blew the lights from before."

" Right . . ." DP said, then turned to the still lit up Ookami. " Ookami, I'll be needing that ability of yours. Ranger, DW, D-Dude, I'll be needing you guys as well. We're gonna check the fuse box and see what just happened. After we're gonna search for Haru. Anyone wanna back down now, go ahead and say so."

" B-Bathroom!" DW yelled and ran upstairs, shaking as he really did have to go. " IT'LL BE A SEC!"

" Oh . . . Ross, go after DW and make sure he's alive when you both get back." DP said, then turned back as Ross ran up after DW and said," Well, instead of him, then Banjomaru. I've overheard you're great with technological appliances and about your lab from Rook."

" Cheeky . . ." Banjoamru muttered under his breath.

The group dispursed as DP turned and said," Wandrex, Rook and TL, you three are in charge down here. No using powers unless it's very necessary. Remember, no one goes off alone. If someone goes off alone, there's either major problems or there's a chance that someone will die. Keep your eyes peel and make sure no one ends up dead. We'll be back."

The group left as the clock struck four o'clock. The four bells sounded in the dense and yet lit up mansion. Rain was pounding all over, feeling as though there were over thousands upon thousands of feet running all over the mansion, making it hard to hear nearly much of the runnings upstairs or downstairs. The majority of the Metagang aside from Banjomaru, Ookami, Kiva and Haru were shaking in the corner of the main den, too shocked and scared to move. Lunatic was on the couch asleep, unbelieveably, and Advent was nearby, also asleep to the rain and muttering something about paying for the whole meal when all he ordered was the soup. The dark went on and on as the thunder boomed and the rain blocked out more noises.

" Now we play the waiting game . . ." Rook sighed.

TL was looking down, writing and thinking hard.

" This doesn't make any sense . . ." TL said.

" W-w-w-w-what doesn't?" Kitten shivered as she and Marcus looked over.

" Just, the guy's MO," TL said.

" Huh?" DJ asked.

" The guy's motivaion for killing?" Phoenix groaned, then said," What's up with it?"

" I never figured . . ." TL thought. " I thought the killer was just going after the most powerful, but now he's killed Kiva and tried to kill my brother and Rook!" he stood up. " This guy's killing us off one by one and there's gotta be some kind of pattern!"

The word made Kitten's ear wriggle a bit. " P-Pattern? The dining room pattern, the seats . . ."

" What you talkin' 'bout, dragon girl?" Dairo asked, making the others laugh a bit.

" S-She doesn't," TL laughed and waved her off.

" The dinner table wasn't set right!" she said wide eyed. " I just remembered that some of us changed seats!"

TL gasped and looked fear struck . . .

(_Flashback)_

_ " Hey bro?" TL asked getting up._

_ " What?" D-Dude asked turning around._

_ " How many people switched places at the table at dinner?" he asked._

_ " I know King swapped places with Janera, but that's a fopa," Dairo said._

_ " Not sure . . ." D-Dude said._

_ " I don't think X was the target . . ." TL said. " Because IF he was the target, the gun wouldn't have been a .22. It would have taken a LOT more force to bring him down from his mask and his skull. The guy would have seen it coming for sure!"_

_ " That's what Dairo and I were talking about. Why place the gun to aim there, unless X wasn't the intended shot for the shooter . . . " D-Dude said._

_ " Who swapped with X?" Dairo asked._

_ " Not sure, but we can't tell the others this until we realize who was sitting there . . ." TL said, the crossed his arms and added," Induces less panic."_

_ " LESS?" Dairo yelled._

_ " YES, less, what are you, nuts?" TL laughed._

_ (End of Flashback)_

TL groaned and sat back down as a minor panic was setting in. Dairo shook his head at TL worried and biting his others glanced back at the hedgehog, even Lunatic who was shaking more. He sighed and conceded, looking around and back at each picture and everything in the room including everyone minus a few before finally speaking.

" Alright . . . D-Dude, Dairo and I were looking over X's body and the crime scene . . . and since X was sitting in someone else's seat at the time of his death . . . we believed . . . that he was not the killer's main target."

There was a large group gasped and light volumed chatter.

" Since that cat's out of the bag . . . " TL gave in," who here knows who was supposed to be in X's seat?"

" That would be me," Wandrex said stepping over. " I was gonna sit where X was sitting, but I decided to swap placed with him to sit by Lilly. I wasn't sure or not so I just said 'Flip it' and did it. You mean I was gonna die instead of X?"

" Apparently . . . but why kill YOU of all people?" TL wondered.

" Less jerkweeds in the world?" Janera laughed lightly.

" No that's just you guys."

" BOO!" the gang said.

TL groaned and said sitting down near his brother," We're gonna need a good hour or so to get this . . ."

XXX

DP was walking down the creaky steps, staff in hand, Ookami close behind. He stepped carefully and held onto the railing. Ookami was shaking behind him, not wanting to end up down and out. Behind her were Ranger weilding his gun, D-Dude going down the steps carefully, and Banjomaru, his communicaotr having a light shined down into the basement. He blinked and looked around a bit srpised, which the others were beginning to take notice of.

" What's up, Banjo?" D-Dude asked.

" Okay one, do not call me that, and secondly, why is there a basement in a 20th century house in the middle of nowhere anyways?" Banjomaru asked.

" Enough of the questions we need to look at the-" DP started.

" Found the fuse box, DP," Ranger said," And you may wanna see this."

The others shined light towards the opened box and Ranger. There were several wires, but some of them had been cut, not just the one for the living room. The ones cut were for the porch outside, the upstairs bathrooms, the first floor, and the wires for the attic. Banjomaru walked over and started the repairs on the wires and the breakers, groaning about how unpleasant it was. Thunder boomed as more rain sounded, the others of the group congregating.

" Who went in here and cut these wires?" DP asked.

" Not sure," Ranger said," Whoever did wasn't around us at the time obviously . . . ."

" No duh," D-Dude said thinking," but the way things went, they'd have to have left the main rooms we were all in or set these to break from beforehand."

" Quite a diversion though . . . and sadly also clique," DP sighed.

There was a sudden rustling sound nearby as Ranger cocked his gun and aimed. DP started up a spell, but the familiar footsteps closed into the area and into the light, just before Ranger fired and D-Dude would have ripped him into shreads. Ookami gasped.

" Air?"

" Oh uh, hey guys . . ." he coughed, dusty already and covered in cobwebs. " What brings you guys down here?"

There were flat looks in silence, aside from the rapid rain.

" Not buying it huh?"

" Nope," DP said," Air, why are you down here? I thought you were upstairs."

" Well . . . " Air sighed then held up a cellphone. The bars were full.

The others gasped. Thunder boomed again.

" You had a signal this whole time?" Ookami growled. " DUDE! I couldn't call Charlie for three seconds without having blockage!"

" I was finding a place in the mansion to get good service in this shit storm and text Energy Witch . . . she couldn't make it so I was texting here what we were doing," Air sighed, then walked more forward, scraping webs off of himself. " I figured if I told someone that NOW of all times, you'd all either kill me or wrestle for my phone."

" So that's what you were doing upstairs," D-Dude wondered. " Explains a lot. But why are you down in the basement?"

" You'd be surprised how many trapdoors are in this place . . ." Air groaned.

" Yeah, I was warned about that . . . we aren't gonna kill you Air, but maybe NOW you can use that phone to call the police," DP said.

Air nodded and started to dial. D-Dude then looked at the wires closely, touching one with a talon.

" Since Air was down here after the power blew, someone else had to have cut these," D-Dude said.

" Exactly D-Dude, and the way these were snipped, it was with a really fine pair of scissors or a sharp blade or something," Banjomaru said fixing the wires for the first floor. " Boom baby! now onto this wire for the second floor bathroom."

" Wait a sec- BATHROOM?" DP yelled. " DW!"

" HOLY CRAP!" the others yelled.

XXX

The upstairs was dark as night during the storm, and Ross was standing guard at the bathroom. He himself had taken a while to get there after going to the wrong bathroom beforehand in the unfathomable darkness, but he was already certain it was the right one in the large house. He tapped his foot as the lights above and on the walls flickered, then suddenly came back on, revealing the walls, doors, pictures and windows more clearly.

" Finally . . . hey DW!" Ross yelled. " The lights are back on!"

He knocked on the door, but there was no response.

" DW! You asleep in there again?" he asked concerned. " The lights are back on! They've been fixed, lad!"

Silence. Thud.

" DW?" Ross said, turning the knob.

It was unlocked.

" DW? Are you in he- OH MY GOD!"

Sprawled on the floor was DW, a wound in his chest that was still leaking blood. The blood was sprayed everywhere, over the sink, in the sink, in the tub, on the rugs, and even on the pictures of the couples. He saw the shock and terror on DW's face, now unerasable from the horrors he'd seen.

" DW . . . no . . ."

He looked at the wall.

One word was written in blood.

Ross gasped and stepped back saying," OH my God it was- !"

WHACK!

Thud.

Ross' feet were at the door . . . as he was slowly dragged away . . .

_To be continued!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Man I love typing this fic! XD This is the second part of the penultimate chapters, meaning the next few are gonna be like the Clue of things, so please try to figure it out! I only own Kitten and the Metagang, so please read, review and no flames, thank you!_

The storm outside was brewing further and angrier, as the winds were blowing the rain and mud along the roads and past the large mansion. There was chatter in the living room as TL, Phoenix, the remainders of the Metagang, Marcus, Lunatic, Rook, Wandrex and any others in the room were debating on the evidence and those taken or killed with. The lights flickered once or twice every few minutes, but because of the lights going out from before and the storm's force growing, it was obvious no one was unshocked or not jumpy.

" So, X was killed first, but it was meant to be Wandrex," King said thinking.

They all remembered back, everyone looking on.

" Yeah, but then his body vanished without a trace," Lunatic said sitting on the couch. " I mean, come on! It's not like he can turn into a zombie!"

" You'd be surprised . . ." Dawn murmured near Jiro.

Kitten was looking more and more shaken up, clinging to Marcus. Her claws were lashed out and her eyes were widening each time X's body was mentioned. Marcus was yelping as her claws dug into his skin, causing punctures and small lines.

" Maybe someone buried him . . ." TL said.

" That WOULD make sense, if we found mud, " Dairo said rolling his eyes. " No mud, remembah? And DP even said that there wasn't cleanin' stuff there.

Kitten was shaking more and more, unknowingly tightening her grip on Marcus and his neck, which was now blue. They were behind the others, and Marcus' pleas for help were going unnoticed with the actions. He waved his arms as Kitten kept at it.

" Not unless someone used a charm . . . " Scorpion said.

" Someone can do that?" Goddess asked.

Marcus was trying to get free from Kitten, who was clinging to him worse.

" Yeah, it's a magic thing," King shrugged.

He flopped back on the couch, suffering as Kitten was silently crying, stressed out from something as a thunderous boom shook the house.

" However, you have to know what you're doing," Mira nodded," and you have to have a magical aura."

" Makes sense . . ." Phoenix sighed.

" He-He-helll . . . " Marcus was squeaking out, blue faced and slowly turning purple.

" Yep, dude, he's in he- KITTY LET HIM GO!" Scorpion freaked.

King, Scorpion, Phoenix, Goddess and TL grabbed Kitten's arms and pried her off of Marcus, who took a deep breath once she was off and gasped lightly for air, coughed and nodded, sinking onto the couch. He gave a thumb's up as Dawn laughed lightly. Kitten, however, was still shaking and pried herself from the others. Rook helped her to the couch as DJ was looking around, then glanced out the window at the weather, which was now taking a violent turn. The winds had uprooted a tree and shaken it in front of the porch.

" Oh man that's gonna making leaving hard . . ." DJ felt a chill run up his spine.

" Kitty, what's up?" Jiro asked looking at the shaking half-dragon.

" N-N-nothing's wrong . . . r-really, nothing, not anything sinister or anything insane or anything!"

She was smiling weirdly as everyone looked at her flatly.

" Kitty?" TL asked.

" Yes?"

" You're a bad liar," Phoenix said.

Kitten slumped over sighing. " Okay . . . I CONFESS!"

" SO IT WAS YOU!" Lunatic yelled pointing.

" Dude, let her finish," Rook put his arm down.

Wandrex shook his head and sat down. Kitten looked about ready to cry as she whimpered and sniffled. Phoenix sat down beside her and placeda hand on her shoulder, Dawn doing the same. Kitten was sobbing then, tears coming from her blue eyes. TL walked towards her.

" So, what happened?" TL asked.

" I-It's X's-s-s-s-s body . . . " she sniffled.

" What about it?" DJ asked walking over as well.

" Please please PLEASE say you won't hate memeeee!" she cried, rivers of tears pouring.

The tears hit a few members of the Metagang as Ookami opened an umbrella. " What? Smart girl comes prepared."

" Bad luck . . ." someone murmured.

" Kitty there's nothing you can do to get us angry," Dawn smiled.

Phoenix nodded," Yeah, we're your friends. So, what about X's body?"

Kitten took a deep breath and said," Hikari, Tia and I buried his body in the backyard and I used a charm to levitate it out of here and which is also used to bless it that I took out of King's backpack and it freaked me out so much that night that I went to go find someone and I ended up spending the night with Marcus-sama!"

Everyone gasped. There were wide eyes and shocked looks on everyone's face. Thunder and rain pounded on the window as Kitten sniffled and wiped her eyes.

" See? This was why I couldn't tell anyone . . . it's hard to lie . . . now I know how D-Dude feels about it . . ."

Silence.

" You, Hikari and Tia buried X?" Dawn asked frozen.

" You kept silent about this?" Rook glared then.

" YOU WERE IN MY STUFF AGAIN?" King yelled.

Moa laughed and said," Funny moa moa!"

Kitten sniffled as Dawn sighed and patted her shoulder. " All you guys did was give him a proper funeral, right?"

She nodded.

" Well, that explains a lot," TL nodded. " Least we know you're not the killer."

" SHOOT!" Lunatic snapped and hit the couch arm. " I thought I was onto something . . ."

" Well, no, but-"

There was a rush of running alongside the rain, as the group from the basement ran around the corner, DP levitating quickly as he went upstairs, followed by Ranger and Banjomaru, D-Dude running to the living room door and panting as the rest of the aforementioned group finished going upstairs.

" Big Double-" Lunatic started.

" We fixed the power . . . DW may be dead . . . " D-Dude huffed.

" WHAT?" everyone yelled.

" For some reason, I'm not shocked," Tal said arms crossed.

Thunder and lightning were on at the second he said it.

XXX

The bloody and horriffic scene inside the bathroom was enough to make anyone of the group hurl. The cuts on DW were stainless, clean, and he was butchered perfectly, a fearful and dead look inside of his lifeless eyes. He had seen much, and now, DW was gone. TL looked away with pity and anger for whoever had done this, D-Dude looked on at the bloody mess, eyes narrowing, Kitten gagged and ran off, Marcus following her murmuring something about zombies, Dawn held on tighter to Jiro, DP looked down and bit his bottom lip, Hikari ws holding onto DP, and the others were either silent, talking lightly in whispers, or were panicing as well.

DP ushered everyone off, then turned off the light, locked the door from the inside, then closed the bathroom door on DW.

" That's it . . . DW's dead . . . "

" That's another victim . . . bastard . . . first X, then Nukid, Haru went missing, then Kiva, now DW . . . " Ranger growled, tightening his fist.

Silence.

Rain falling.

" That psychotic son of a bitch . . ."

" Amen brother," Tanuki did the cross symbol, her scythe on her back. She yawned and added," I'm not the only one particularly unhappy with this . . . I have to get your souls here!"

" Now THAT is creepy . . . " Ranger said looking at her. " How do you do that?"

She swung her scythe and braced it on her shoulder by the holder's place, saying," I just swing it like so . . .and you're gone in one move."

" Can I borrow that to fight yaoi fans sometime?"

" Can I borrow a gun?"

" I withdraw the question," Ranger glared.

" Who would kill DW alongside the others?" TL ponder to D-Dude.

" Not sure, but whoever it is, they're getting more sadistic . . ." D-Dude said. " Yeah, slashings . . . and thesmear there . . . I can see it, can't you?"

" Not really . . . "

D-Dude and Hikari glanced at the now pacing Dragonsaur, who was mumbling to himself. The Metagang members left standing in the hallways were still looking along, Air running back from another hallway, looking frantic. Phoenix and Goddess were now looking at him, Lunatic hanging from the ceiling as his brother was stopping. Air whispered into DP's ear, making him gulp and nod in shock. Air looked over at D-Dude and saw the serious expression, alongside everyone else, as he turned.

" I think I have his MO," D-Dude said.

TL and a few of the others were looking over at D-Dude, both shocked and amazed, and one had a look of relief.

" I also have new info about this," Air said, looking angry and nervous. " Ross came up here, and I can't find him on this floor."

There was a group gasp.

" DAMN it that guy strikes twice at a time now?" Advent yelled, appearing behind Jiro.

JIro jumped as Dawn jumped into his arms. She blushed as he smiled, helping her down. Banjomaru glared at the Jashinist.

" Where the HELL where you dude?" he asked.

" I was in the other bathroom on this floor," he said.

" Huh," banjomaru shrugged.

" I can explain in the Living room," D-Dude said.

The group dispered as TL was looking back at DW's door. Lunatic lagged and saw his brother, still thinking at the door. He then snapped his fingers as his a small smile spread across his face. The hedgehog ran to D-Dude, and the two were soon talking. Lunatic blinked and strung a few thoughts together in his head, trying to piece the mystery together. He then smirked and ran over to his older brothers, who also were giving him the run-down.

XXX

The Metagang was going down the staircase first to the first floor. King reached as he heard a knock on the door. He stopped suddenly, his eyes widening, pupils shrinking, fear and pulse skyrocketing, and the desire to scream was increasing more and more each second. The other members of the gang that were still alive and well weren't taking much notice because of the rain. Other Author Fighters were also stepping down the same staircase, as they heard the knocking and athud against the door several times.

" So then I said oatmeal? Are you crazy-" Ookami bumped into King. " Uh, King?"

" ONe moment . . . " he said, going to the door.

" KING NO! IT MAY BE THE KILLER!" Phoenix yelled.

King jerked the door open, a mud-covered and water sprayed teenager falling inside with a big and sickening SPLAT. The others surrounded him as KIng and Scorpion brought him more in. Dairo shooed them off and kept saying," Give the dude air!" over and over. Lilly brought over a towel and dried the mud off in a few places, revealing a lightly tanned face, blue eyes halfway closed, long blonde hair in an odd way, and a green gemstone . . .

" HARU!" the Metagang said.

Haru eased himself up slowly with one arm, groaning in pain, sharpened nerves scattering in his body. Mirasuka hugged him as she cried.

" Haru I was so worried!" she said, crying rivers of tears. " I may know this sounds crazy as of right now but I was sick of you not beigna round, and I was worried that you were dead! I'm so happy that you're okay . . ."

Haru braced a hand on her, as he mumbled something, the others nearing to hear what was so important, and inside of their minds, other questions were also popping up: Why was Haru covered in mud? Why did his arm look so broken? Why was he outside in the first place? Did he see anything? What this REALLY Haru? Was there going to be an epic battle?

" I-I . . . "

" Yes?" Mira asked.

" I-I was . . ."

" Yeah buddy?" Dairo wsa clearing the mud off.

Haru coughed, getting a fever from the chill of the mud and water, then said," I-I saw . . . who grabbed me . . . th-through the trap d-d-door . . ."

" See? This place is FULL of trap doors and holes, like _The Room_," Air said.

(Beat)

Everyone glared at Dairo, who turned off a stereo. He laughed nervously as Haru glared, but he swayed back and forth, getting sicker. Mira caught him and fell on top of him, making him groan, because something precious was nearly hit . . . and with him being sick, that would have been a double whammy. The others in the room cringed, Haru and Mira still talking.

" Well? Who is it?" she asked, looking more and more worried.

" It was . . . i-t . . . w-a-s . . . . . s.s.s . . . " he passed out.

Silence.

Rain poured down as thunder boomed outside in the darkness.

" Seriously . . . " Tal said, arms crossed. " Cock tease."

" You said it brother," Janera smirked, then said," You like to beat down nerds who think they're better than anyone?"

Tal laughed as the group got into the living room, some going to help Haru get clean and healthy again.

XXX

The rain was continuing as the whole group, or what was left of it, was now in the main living room, sitting around and looking fearful. The only sounds were the ticking of the clock, slow and slower, and the pitter-patter of the rain as it landed on the panes and glass. The large tree outside was still there, the barracade it was.

The living room couch had Phoenix, Goddess, DJ and Dairo. On the chair was DP and Hikari, who was hugging him out of fear. On the other couch was Haru, still recovering from his fever and was now cleared of mud, but for some odd reason or another, he had a large scar over his eyes and his forehead in an odd cresent shape. Mira, King, Scorpion and Ookami were behind it, Banjomaru looking over the dead body of Kiva, which was now frozen with rigor mortis.

On the rug sitting together was Dawn and Jiro, Dawn still shaking minorly with flashbacks to finding Nukid that very same morning. Rook and Wandrex, along with Lilly and Trisha, were standing next to Tia Harribel by the fireplace silence being their stone cold alliance. Janera and Tal were standing beside the door of the living room, looking like the old Farmer and his Wife. Tanuki was looking outside at the rain falling, sighing now and again silently. Advent was beside her, his scythe missing from his side. Mora was beside Tal and Janera.

AirNaruto, Kitten and Marcus were sitting in front of the couch Haru was out cold on, looking on in complete confusion at the scene. Ranger was leaning on the arm of the chair DP and Hikari were on. Lunatic was nearest his brothers TL and D-Dude, who were standing in the main opening of the circle, D-Dude scanning everyone and everything quickly. TL was smirking, unknown intelligence behind his and D-Dude's eyes, alongside Lunatic, Dairo, Ranger and a few others.

" Glad to see everyone here," TL smirked wider. " D-Dude, Loon and I have been talking, and I think we got the mystery just about wrapped up, alongside others in here, but we can lead and see what goes on. Everyone cool with it?"

" I'd like to see what we all gathered," DP said, nodding to them. " I'm sure comparing notes right now is exactly what we need to do. Go ahead, TL, DD."

" Thanks Boss whiz," TL gave a salute.

" FIVE years, TL, FIVE years . . . " DP groaned. " Even DURING this, please give it a break!"

TL laughed as D-Dude whacked the back of his head with his tail, making the hog yelp.

" Hey! What the-?"

" Saw a stink-bug."

" HAHAHA!" Lunatic laughed falling over.

" Enough of the gags for once, let's get this party started," Rook said annoyed.

" Ooh, Mister Snippy," King raised a brow at him, laughing lightly.

" SHUT UP!" Rook yelled at him.

" YOU BOTH SHUT UP!" Trisha yelled annoyed.

" Everyone needs to shut up!" Ranger yelled.

" SHUT UP!" Dawn groaned.

" You shut your mouth!" Advent ran over swinging his scythe.

" ENOUGH!" Kitten yelled, then coughed and said," Um, TL? Can you go ahead and go on here? Big Double D?"

There was a silence as the hog and dragonsaur cleared their throats. The lights dimmed as lightning and thunder struck once the clock struck at five o'clock on the dot. D-Dude took out his notes as TL pulled a familiar fedora out of his hammerspace. A few of the Metagang laughed mildly, seeing where the scene was going. Ranger rolled his eyes as Air groaned.

" Alright, first off, the first victim of the killer was XProdigy, killed yesterday night at dinnertime via a .22 caliber, which had been placed inside of the wall with a clock, that was set precisely for when the sitter in his chair would have had his head down, ready to be killed."

" I thought X WAS the dude to die," Mora said, rubbing his head. " Man, I hit the rails as I came down . . ."

" No, Dairo, my bros and I found out that X was just a victim of circumstance," D-Dude said seriously scowling. " The INTENDED victim was Wandrex, who swapped places with him to be with his girlfriend Lilly. X was shot in his stead."

Wandrex gulped as Lilly hugged him tightly.

" We all now know where X's body is, thanks to Kitten spilling what had happened to it," Lunatic said smugly. " She spilled the beans! Hikari, Tia and her herself buried him outside in the rain last night and he is still out there. She used the spell and THAT was why there wasn't any blood."

Kitten was quivering as HIkari smiled and nodded to her, Tia also nodding. Kitten smiled and calmed down.

" The next victim was Nukes," Dairo said," and he died by bein' stabbed by Janera's sword."

" But I couldn't kill anyone, I could never kill anyone!" Janera yelled.

" Exactly, so we all know it can't be you, Janie," TL said.

Janera glared. " ONLY Drac calls me that . . ."

" Drac who?" Tal asked confused.

" Her vampire prince boyfriend," Mira answered bluntly.

" What the hell?"

" But that also posed another question: why would the killer use Janera's own bankai sword as a murder weapon?" D-Dude asked, glancing towards her. " It was but only a small piece of the puzzle, nothing more than a frame-up."

" So what?" Janera groaned," SOME one was gonna frame me?"

" The sword hilt was also totally clean," Dawn said, remembering, and nodding," No smudged or scent or anything."

" Precisely Dawn," D-Dude nodded.

" So, whoever did it was swearing gloves or cleaned it off," HIkari said, nodding.

" The so-called third victim was Haru when he went missing a few hours ago, but let's remember HOW we all found him . . . " TL said aloud. " Muddy, scratched up, and outside. That means either he did something, something happened to him, or he was jsut roaming around."

" Yeah, be thankful he's asleep," Tanuki said to him. " Epipheral demons BURN back."

There was minor laughter as TL steamed.

" The fourth victim was Kiva," Lunatic said. " He died when he drank that soda, then had a grande mal seizure then died. Is it grande mal?"

" GRAND mal, dude," Banjoamru bopped his head," and I checked the soda. it had laced components of adrenaline and some other types of insulin-filled drugs that were meant for a person with diabetes, which means that yes, someone spiked his soda, or maybe all of the sodas."

" Thank GOD I didn't go Cornholio," Rook said.

" It was only one specific type of soda that was spiked when I checked though . . . just the kind my cousin liked," Banjoamru sighed sadly.

" That pretty much meant anyone, not just him, would have touched the sodas," Ranger said," and that also meant more than one death. What the fucking hell, man?"

" Cluster F-bomb?" Janera laughed.

" Gun shot to the head?"

" Shutting up . . ."

TL groaned, then straightened up. " The fifth and sixth victims were my own brother and Rook, who had knives thrown at them earlier today when the lights blew."

" Someone cut those wires with either wire cutters or a sharper object," DP said standing," Whoever did so would have knows that the groups were already splitting up, had good aim with wide-range to short range projectiles and would have had a good motive to kill them."

" Right on the dime, Boss Whiz," TL laughed.

" DARN IT TL!" DP yelled.

The others laughed loudly this time. Phoenix fell off of the couch laughing so hard.

" This is turning into a Dean Martin celebrity roast!" Advent laughed.

Air looked up shaking his head," Alright, enough with the jokes and fights you guys . . . . let's just get back to normal here . . ."

" Right . . . DW was the seventh victim, and we ALL saw what happened to him in the bathroom . . ." TL shivered. " Dude did not need to go that way . . ."

The others nodded.

" He was hacked by something sharp, so, maybe we're dealing with MORE than one killer and possibly MORE than one weapon, aside from Janera's obvious sword?" Mira asked.

" I don't think so . . ." Ranger said," Look at it from a perspective . . . more than one? We'd see that, and more than one murder? I think that's literal overkill."

" You pulling the wool over my eyes?" Scorpion laughed.

" You pulling a visual pun?"

" No, THIS is a visual pun!" Dairo said, pulling out a 'Hang in there Baby' cat poster, a few people only blinking. The rain was already the only sound, alongside a cricket noise. " So, anyone feelin' somethin' from the poster joke or was this a waste? I-I'm workin' on new gags."

" Hit and miss," Rook shrugged.

" Not so funny," Lilly and Trisha said at once.

" Meh," TL shrugged.

" Oh, then this was a misfiah . . ." Dairo said, then put the poster in a pocket.

D-Dude shook his head as he said," Well, the final and eighth victim was Ross, because he's gone missing, and we couldn't find any evidence to where or how he vanished," D-Dude said.

Everyone was talking as TL then smirked, his eyes sparking.

" NOW, I think I got the identity of the killer . . ."

Everyone gasped silently.

" THE KILLER IS-"

CLING!

A gun was cocked to the back of TL's head.

_To be continued! And apologies to everyone!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Alright! Here's the astounding climax of the murder mystery! Remember, what is expressed here isn't real, so let's just read and enjoy! I only own Kitten and the Metagang, please read and review, thank you!_

Everyone was talking as TL then smirked, his eyes sparking.

" NOW, I think I got the identity of the killer . . ."

Everyone gasped silently.

" THE KILLER IS-"

CLING!

A gun was cocked to the back of TL's head.

Thunder boomed as wind bellowed, everyone gasped as a fwe stood up in shock. TL was clenching his fist as his eyes turned to the holder of the gun. D-Dude and Lunatic backed up, Kitten was nearly blubbering, DP was pulling out his staff and the other Keyblade wielders were preparing to silence the villain.

" It all pieced together just like that . . ." TL growled, trying to keep his energy at bay, " it was all you, because you just couldn't stand to lose . . ."

There was a wicked cackle as a twisted smile formed on the person's face.

" CORRECT, stubborn hedgehog . . . but you forget, this wasn't just my doing . . . it was my dear Jashin's . . . "

AdventChild was standing behind him, looking like an executioner from the Wild West. The others were stunned or grabbing their weapons.

" A-Advent . . . w-w-why?" KItten sniffled.

" You killed your brother!" Dawn howled.

Advent sighed as he lowered the gun an inch, still aimed at TL, whose body was quivering. D-Dude and Lunatic were getting their weapons out, still processing everything with everyone else.

Ranger cocked a pistol and aimed for Advent's skull.

" What in God's name were you fucking thinking you demented sone of a bitch?"

" Now now, Ranger, I was not in this alone . . . Allow me to explain . . ." Advent smirked, a Cheshire grin working across his face.

" THen go ahead, you got a few before we shred you for hurting mny boyfriend!" Mira growled loudly, her mirror out.

" Sheesh, you could so SO much better."

" Says the guy who has white hair and worships a demonic lord."

" NO ONE ASKED YOU!"

Rook and the others were ready to fight as Advent cocked the pistol, aiming at TL's head once more. He pulled him back and curved his arm around his neck. He was trapped by the Jashinist, no where to run and Hanabi was flipping out already.

" Since you all figured it out, allow me to recollect my history of this . . ."

XXX~

_' For the longest time, Faker and I have been at it to see who was more insane, and my recent victory of Most Insane Author was enough to satisy me . . . '_

Advent smirked as he glanced at the award on his shel-

XXX~

" HEY! I AM NOT A FAKER! I AM TOO INSANE!"

" SHUT UP AND LET ME FINISH!"

_ XXX~_

Advent walked past DP's room, where he was talking to someone else inside. He peeked inside, scythe on his back, seeing a familiar white haired man laughing his head off with him. Another recognizable character was a brunette Jedi ninja. Their conversation was pretty much about the so-called Metagang and how one had 'the appearance of Madonna' and 'Vic Mignogna's voice'.

Noodle incidents and random comments and running gags and Heel Face turns.

He felt his jaw grit.

No, not this time.

_' It wasn't until LATER I realized there were those who were more insane than I was . . . enough to give a grown man a drive to drink for the rest of his life after only a week . . . I felt disgraced, humiliated, and more to the point, disappointed in myself.'_

Advent turned from DP's door as he was discussing with Air, changing their subject to the 5 Year Anniversary.

He felt a mix of emotions, and was already ready to to commit a sacrifical ceremony for ten days straight, but where to find the bo-

" The metagang coming?" DP asked.

Rook groaned, saying," Yeah . . . Kitty's idea . . . but I've got Trisha with me alongside Wandrex and Lilly."

" Nice," DP smiled, writing it all down. " Now we need to be sure that the place is clean and everything before we head out there. I don't wanna see people having allergy attacks, no SEX, and no major stuff."

" . . . what was that second one?" Rook asked, blankly.

DP was flat faced as Advent away from the door, overshadowed eyes. A demonic grin sewed its way onto his face.

_' I suddenly felt great . . . I knew if I wasn't the most insane, I'd scare them into thinking that I was!'_

XXX~

" But, that doesn't really explain much," Mira growled, her mirror shaking. " What happened?"

" I'm getting to it," Advent looked grim as he glanced back at the edge of the gun. " I was already getting my plan in action . . ."

XXX~

Advent cut a hole in a section of the dining room wall, smirking as he placed the .22 Calibur in the side of the area. He carefully cocked it and tied the string to the timer, glancing to the chair, where Wandrex' name was placed.

' _The initial phase one of my plan was to cause a major panic to everyone by nearly killing one of the more insane members . . . '_

Advent smirked as he walked over to his side.

_Later . . . _

_ " _That also spread to - X? What are you doing?" DP asked, freaking.

" Trying to stop that blonde gay from looking at me like that," X growled at Haru.

" I'm just trying to figure out what's behind the mask!" he yelled standing. " Dang it! EVERYONE is ALWAYS trying to KILL me or SOMETHING!"

" I have your something RIGHT HERE GAYBOY!" X yelled standing up shaking a gun.

Advent was wide eyed as he also rose with the rest of the group trying to stop them. Kitten and Ranger were already arguing as well, as he also cocked a gun. It was as if the ticking of the timer was only hearable to Advent's ears.

_' I never knew that Wandrex and my own brother would swap places, by Jashin I swear, and what happened next . . . ?'_

BANG!

Silence followed by the thunder and lightning, X's dead and bloody body lying on the floor, sad and dead eyes already on Advent.

" T-T-Tia . . ."

Advent felt a small tear fall.

_' I never wanted to kill my brother . . .'_

_ XXX~_

He sniffled and wiped and eye.

" I never really wanted to kill anyone, and I never wanted to even KILL my own brother . . . worst idea ever . . ."

" At least you feel remorse," Kitten smiled, much to the chagrin of Advent," we're making progress."

" NOT necessarily, Kitten," he smirked, his insane grin reappearing. " You see, afterwards, part one of my plan was already executed, so, through inadvertedly slaying my brother, I gained the fear and cabin fever I needed for phase two to work."

" Phase two?" Banjoamru asked, shaking. " Freaking now . . . "

" Amen brother," Rook said, his Keyblade still shaking.

" Yes, but before that, while everyone was arguing about who killed X, I went back and wiped the gun clean of my fingerprints before anything else was discovered," he said."

TL growled and said," Then why go ahead and commit the other murders?"

Advent smirked.

" Then let me tell the rest . . . geez, ever heard of manners?"

" Has Jashin?"

" SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK!"

XXX~

Advent was humming to himself as he walked upstairs, his scythe shining in the lights of the halls. He blinked as he spotted Nukid nearby, glaring at him.

" Alright, Advent, I entered my room, saw your darn cleanin' cloth on my bed, what the hell?" he growled.

As Nukid held the cloth out, which contained small splotches of gun-power, Advent sweatdropped. Nukid's eyes were slit as he smirked, saying small words of evil.

_' On accident, I had dropped off the same cloth in Nukid's room by mistake, thinking I was in mine in the dark. He found it, and I knew when I saw him, he was ready to tell the others of my misdeed . . . '_

" Heh, my bad man . . ."

He took the cloth and then got closer to Nukid.

" Why did you do it?" he whispered.

" I-I never meant to . . ." Advent whispered back, red faced.

" Fat chance . . ." Nukid growled.

Advent quivered, as his eyes widened. He glanced back at his scythe. There was a shattering of a window nearby, just as his scythe penetrated Nukid's chest.

BOOM! BANG! CRACK!

Nukid was stumbling into a nearby closet, choking on blood. He glared at Advent, who was smiling in psychopathy. He coughed out words, but it made him snicker.

" Goodnight, Narcoleptic pervert . . . rest in peace . . ."

_' I was only protecting myself when I killed Nukid, but this time, I was newly discovering my newer passion to kill for Jashin-sama . . . my friends' blood was truly deeper to slash through, but if it was ALL for Jashin, then it was.'_

Advent dashed back from one room, and pulled out a familiar Bankai sword.. He stabbed it into Nukid's now still warm body, then closed his eyes, at least with as much ability as necessary.

_' I detoured my pathway and already was moving along back to my room to sleep . . . I negelcted to close Nukid's eyes all the way, so they probably burst back open somehow . . .'_

XXX~

Kitten was off crying in an ice-encased room with the sensitive sisters of the FAF, Marcus was being interrogated by the protective elder brothers of the FAF, and Advent was sneaking off under the cover of arguments and laughter, oddly.

_' While the others were asking the sad-excuse of a Kamen Rider why he was making out with the Innocent Devil, and more of the girls were tending to said devilish woman-'_

XXX~

" HEY!" the two yelled out, steaming red. " We resent/resemble those remarks!"

Ranger snickered.

" AH keep ya pants on . . . " Advent groaned," I'm just saying what everyone thinks."

" Advent, even I Don't think that," Dawn said, still lashing her claws out.

" But I'm wearing a skirt," Kitten murmured.

TL tried to speak, but Advent simply placed fingers on his Adam's apple, nearing his collarbone.

" Ah let me finish, fuzzball . . ."

XXX~

_'Anyways, I slunk out of the living room, seeing my chance."_

Advent tip-toed out, smirking. He stepped into the kitchen and took out a small syringe, containing an odd colored medicinal liquid. It was bubbling and was dark as iodine. It smelled of yellow puss and probably tasted like black manure.

A grim smile crossed Advent's face as he placed the contents into a soda can.

_' The part of the plan for the soda was to have someone without any mental disorders to get it, go insane as if they were having a seizure and scare the others into taking a leave or what-not from . . . being insane.' _

A sudden gasped echoed.

Eye twitch.

Advent turned, seeing Haru, wide eyed and shaking.

" A-Advent . . ."

" Tsk-tsk-tsk . . . "

' _I neglected to lock the darn kitchen door, and then HE walked in, so, I did the only thing I could . . .'_

Advent rushed at him and pushed him, making him fall . . . literally through the floor.

" HOLY CRA-"

The door sealed shut from above Haru as Advent looked about as demented as Apple Bloom silouhettes from Cupcakes. The lightning and thunder made it no better. Haru's eyes were quivering like an arrow on a poorly drawn bow.

_' I pushed him, that's all . . . and he ended up falling through a trap door to his supposed fate . . . '_

Advent took two sodas and bumped into Kiva on the way out of the kitchen. Kiva smirked and took a soda can.

" Thanks, broseph!"

He walked out, just as he was saying, "You guys are sure jumpy right now . . . ya know that? . . . "

Advent was blinking as he ran back in, watching the events transpire: a minor notice of how Tal came in and the wonders of where Haru had gone, Kiva having his grande mal seizure and dying from the toxin.

All the while, his mind was a mess.

_' The scenes just blended together, and I kept saying "Thank Jashin above I have so many new sacrifices!" . . . and yet, somehow . . . I knew what I was doing was wrong . . . '_

XXX~

The Authors were silent. Rain still pounded as they slowly lowered their weapons. A few had sat back down, still shaking and nearly crying in disbelief. Dawn was scooting to Jiro as DJ and the rest of the Metagang was silently crying. DP glared as he was charging a spell.

" Why do all of that for this?" Air said, his hands gathering The Force.

" And the power outage? DW? ROSS?" Lunatic yelled. " WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THEM YOU PSYCHOPATH?"

Advent cocked his head to the red-head, his eyes no longer the playful insanity he had become well liked for.

Serious insanity.

" Glad you asked . . . "

XXX~

Advent opened the door for the basement and then felt around quickly for the fuse-box. He tapped the metal black door and yanked it open. He laughed lightly as he swiftly and sure snapped the wires.

The lightning was on his body as he slashed it, hair now frizzing.

_' I slashed the wires to create a panic, duckies, and your reactions were hilarious!"_

" SOMEONE HIT THE LIGHTS!" Phoenix screamed.

Advent thumped through the foyer and thumped up the staircase, then turned into the boy's hallway, panting with excitement.

_' I was having a ribbing good laugh! And I was certain that I'd get away with this . . . '_

He slowed down as he spotted DW talking to himself at the end of the said hallway, slowly staring at him. Advent became Jack, he became his fake son, his scythe begot the shape of an axe . . .

It seemed as if the world were going in super slow motion as the scythe slashed inside and out of DW's body, leaving behind both major and minor cuts. Advent was alreadu laughing as he finished, wiping a bit fo blood spatter form his face.

The former Advent . . . was gone.

Advent slunk down and out of the unlocked bathroom, but gasped as he spotted Ross walking his way. He dashed past, his scythe tightly gripped.

_' Ross wasn't insane . . . closest thing he was was a big brother . . . like X . . . so I just -'_

SMACK!

Advent began to drag the outcold Ross into a closet, then shut the door gently.

' _I just knocked him out carefully and set him in the second floor closet near the bathroom . . . I didn't have the heart to kill him, nor a few others . . ."_

He smirked as he walked off . . .

XXX~

Advent smiled, finishing his story. The FAF members were already shaking, a few weeping, Hikari taking her Devil wing out as

" AND you found me out, bravo, hedgehog, bravo . . ." Advent smirked," So, how'd you end up finding out it was me?"

TL had a flat face.

" Considering the word in blood on the bathroom wall was JASHI . . . obvious . . ."

Advent grumbled underneath his breath. The others groaned in frustration. Air was already shaking.

" Advent, I don't want to hurt an ally . . . . just let TL go and we can talk about this . . ." he said emotionlessly.

TL was charging his gloved hand, right as Lunatic was charging his chakram up.

" Hell no."

" Advent, listen to a troll here," Tal said, aiming his guns at Advent's head. " LET go of the guy."

" F*ck you."

" Darn it, Advent, you're nuts! Prepare to face defeat from my Keybla- OH my GOD I AM going insane from the Metagang!"

" HEY!" the members shouted, waking up Haru.

" H-Huh?"

He groaned as he sat up quickly, the others gasping in surprise.

" ALL of that and you wake up to a nudge?" Ranger yelled.

" What the hell man?" Air yelled.

" He's a heavy sleeper . . . " Mira rolled her eyes, then growled to Advent, her hands glowing with the rest of the Metagang's," You'll never get away with this!"

" TOO LATE!" Advent cocked his gun. " ADIOS SNOWBALL! TO JASHIN'S THRONEROOM WITH YOUR WHITE FUZZED HEAD! FUCK YEAH!"

Everyone jumped, the spark was lit, screams echoed, the lightning flashed, the thunder boomed! A vase crashed as a window busted open! A car screeched outside! Everyone jumped FORWARD AND -

_**BANG!**_

The room was still and silent, a photographed moment in real life, as a crashed window gained everyone's attention. The heads of every Author and Metagang member turned to the front and the shattered glass, seeing a friendly sight, for once.

A local sheriff was pointing a gun to the mansion, as a few more cop cars were strolling up and coming out. An ambulance could be heard from the smashed window.

Advent paled, TL breathed a sigh of relief.

" Alright Advent, come out with your hands up and no other shots will be fired!" the sheriff said, still pointing his gun. " Now, come on out boy!"

Silence.

Advent tossed the gun to the ground.

" I hate you all . . ."

XXX

Haru, sitting on the back of the ambulance, was getting his blood pressure taken. He smiled as he talked with Quill and Dairo, who were both shocked and happy to be alive.

" After Advent shoved me into that cramped space, I crawled out, got outside, and called the police. I explained the problem and had a bar, so why not?"

The paramedic removed the gauge and gave as thumb's up to him, to which he gave the same back.

" Then why were you covered in mud?" Quill asked.

" . . . I tripped . . ."

" . . . idiot . . ." Quill walked off.

Haru sighed, saying," Everyone be-ith a critic . . ."

" Amen," Dairo shook his head.

TL and DP walked off the porch, landing on the last step just as Advent was cuffed, smiling, and placed into the cop car. As his rights were being superfluously read, he smiled at the two, mouthing something out.

_Thank you._

The car drove off as DP and TL watched it leave, Air and D-Dude also joining them. The uninterpretable silence was shut off as other Authors were being conforted, Ross was being tended to inside of the ambulance and the Metagang was packing up.

" Why do you think he was happy about this?" TL asked, confused. " This was the one thing I never got . . . "

" Because, he wanted to be caught . . . he still had a sense of right and wrong, ergo, he wanted to be punished for this," Ranger said, walking past.

TL puckered and sighed," Oh duh . . ."

" What chaos . . ." D-Dude sighed.

" This is why I was deciding against this . . ." DP sighed sadly.

" Hm?"

TL and Air turned to DP.

" Here I am, the leader of heroes, supposed to be a key character to everyone on the team . . . . and I can't even stop a single member from killing off so many others, let alone prevent arguments and such . . . what good am I to anything or anyone if I can't stop someone from killing my friends?"

DP lamented as a single tear fell from his face. Hikari walked over and noticed, wiping it away and hugging him. He hugged her back.

" Ah man, Chief . . ." Air said.

He bit his bottom lip, words fleeing his mouth before they formed in his mind.

" But, Boss Whi-"

" NOT now, TL . . . " DP growled. " Joking around at a time like this is not a good idea . . . "

" Oh Sempai . . ." Hikari sighed, still hugging him.

" I-I know but this isn't your fault," TL said, trying to add his two cents. " Advent went nuts a bit, and you - "

" Had no idea?" DP started. " Had no intention of this happening? Have to help plan a mass funeral for over four Authors who were also close friends of mine? . . . Yes to all of the above . . . "

A spitting motor roared past as Ranger halted on his motorcycle. The group turned to look at him as he glared at DP.

" Don't make Dawn, Ross and I smack some sense into you, DP . . . " he said," And yeah, we all can hear you."

Ross, ice pack on his head, stumbled over, smiling. DP smirked as he sighed gently, still holding Hikari. Hikari smiled back at Ross.

" It was not your fault, DP," Ranger said, kickstanding his bike. " Just happenstance. Besides, Advent's in jail, and this wasn't the worst reunion thing we've ever had."

Silence.

" At what cost?"

DP glanced down, still black eyed. Hikari polaced her head on his shoulder as the rain began to come down again.

The large group scattered, Ranger taking off on his bike, Ross in the emergency van, the Metagang in their ship, and the rest of the Authors in their cars and other modes of transport, leaving the mansion of blood and fear.

The dark and gloomy skies of the countryside served as a backdrop to the mansion, now all a painting in a dream, of sorts, as if the rain were washing it all away . . . if it was simply so . . .

If it was simply so . . .

If it was sim-pl-y s-o-o . . .

" Simply so . . . "

Eyes quivering, limbs shaking, yawn making chin quaking.

" H-Huh?"

Phoenix sat up, looking around in a mild panic. She was shaking, paled and fear was instilled inside of her mind.

" W-What happened?"

She blinked as her head cocked from left to right, scanning the FAF library all around. She was sitting on the couch near a fireplace, an empty slot on the shelf nearby. She looked at her hands and body, sighing as she was seeing her normal clothes on.

" Oh . . . thank the world of Hearts . . . It was just a dream . . ."

She moved the hard cover book from her lap and stretched, checking her cell phone in her pocket.

8:56 P.M. on a Tuesday.

" Yep, last time I read and snooze . . ."

She stood up and slipped the book back into place. She walked out of the library, smiling a bit as she began humming again. As she hummed, the firelight sprayed over to where the hard-cover book was.

The book's title lit up in the fire.

And Then There Were None.

_That's all folks!_


End file.
